This morning we began by reading an article from the New York Times about H-Mart, the grocery store chain selling food items from Korea and other East Asian countries. That was the opening to our conversation today about food, culture, cuisines, and the concept of home. The students were introduced to the idea that we “don’t yuck other people’s yums” and “it’s not weird, just different”. We then went to visit five grocery stores in the Cary area. The students were asked to think about advantages and disadvantages of chain stores versus “mom and pop” stores. They were also asked to find a snack they’d not had before in one of the stores and either take a picture of it or buy it to have for their reflection at the end of the day.

First up was H-Mart.

The students wandered the aisles looking at the different food items. Some bought snacks, sometimes on the advice of classmates or their own knowledge, others went for something that looked interesting. Next up was Spices Hut, a local South Asian market that is part of a four store chain. Again, the students looked for items to try with Thavish offering some advice. I snagged a few treats as well, based on recommendations from my Indian Sub-continent Affinity Group kids over the years. The third store we went to was Patel Brothers, a national chain specializing in South Asian items. I found this item, and would have bought it had we not had two other stops to make…

I use a lot of garlic in my cooking. I sent this photo to my family chat and it was appreciated!

The fourth store we visited was La Bonita, a Hispanic grocery store that also has a sister store in Clayton. This store was the most, well, foreign to the students. Laurie Toreson (Spanish teacher) and I (guy who used to live on the Mexican border) took on the role of tour guides here. They bought drinks, snacks and lots of pan dulce (Mexican sweet bread).

The final store we visited was Grand Asia Market. When I moved to Cary in 2000, this was the only “Asian market” in the area, as far as I know. A number of students purchased stuffed buns and we also ordered our lunch here to take back to school. We were gone from school for a bit over three hours on our trip. After lunch, we watched the episode “Home Cooking” from Chef David Chang’s show Ugly Delicious. The students then worked on their reflections and we called it a day.