[CH] The sauces warned me away

Alex Silbajoris (asilbajo@hotmail.com)
Fri, 25 May 2001 04:25:09

You may know that I love to browse small ethnic grocery stores.  Today, 
while on the road, I stopped in at a small Mexican place on Rt. 111 outside 
of Goldsboro, North Carolina.  I walked the aisles, as in any typical store, 
and of course I looked at their hot sauces.  Nothing much fancy, some 
1/2-liter bottles of brands like Crystal and La Victoria.  But I noticed 
that all of the bottles were a little bit dusty and old enough to have 
started to turn brown/gray and settle.  I had a chill of suspicion that this 
place was not making its money selling groceries, and I left empty-handed, 
which is unusual for me.

How shall I put this, it seems to me that a grocery store is a living scene 
with stock that moves and changes.  Seeing stagnant sauce like that was like 
seeing a still heart.

This morning I was training workers at the commissary at New River 
MCAB(Marine Corps Air Base) and among other things I was pointing out how 
some of their contract vendor stockers were overloading the shelves, 
especially the top ones.  I found a wall of Tabasco, probably more than 70 
boxes, on a top shelf where even I (at six feeet in height) couldn't reach 
them all. I said, I wonder how old the boxes in the back of that stack 
are...

FWIW I don't see very much variety in the hot sauce selections at these 
commissaries, just the same things you might see in any major grocery chain. 
  Here in NC, I have learned that a foundation layer of Texas Pete helps my 
"chilly powder" to adhere to my food.

- A

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