[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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