Grocery Shopping in Korea

One of my favorite things to do in the whole wide world is to go grocery shopping. I know. It's strange. I can't explain why. Whole Foods (whoop whoop), Harris Teeter, Food Lion, Aldi, Piggly Wiggly, I love them all. Grab a grocery cart and steer my way in, I start in the fruit and veggies (as do most people), skip the seafood section (hate hate hate fishy smells), and end my trip by browsing the dairy section. Perhaps it's the possibilities that await in a grocery store, new recipes stuffed in my bag, ingredients dripping off the page and jumping into my cart. When I get home I organize all of my purchases and will always always cook a full meal that night, including a dessert, with my fresh off the shelf groceries.

Grocery shopping in Korea is no different. I. Love. It. I don't like, however, having to carry all of my groceries all the way back home. In the cold/hot/wind/rain/snow whatever weather we're having that day. But as I'm sure some of you are curious as to how grocery shopping is different I thought I would share with you a few pictures from my local store: The Hanaro Mart.

and so colorful too

Live squid

A staple in every Korean grocery store, red pepper paste.

Not sure what laundry detergent to get? Me either.

There is no such thing as a "dry"Korea. Here is the liquor/beer section.

Doesn't get any fresher than that folks.

Ramyun, because it's actually really good here and as always, cheap.

Now, obviously, I have difficulties buying a few products. I can't read Korean well enough to be able to translate what I'm buying. Laundry detergent is just a guess and grab item, while cheese is almost non-existent, and seafood is a stand and gawk section. Fruit and veggies are EXPENSIVE so I usually grab one or two items and move on.

I tried not to take a large amount of pictures as to escape that "look another waygook with a camera" stereotype. I hope you get the general gist of things. The layout is the same, veggies first, dairy last, skip the seafood section. No actually, I don't do that because the seafood section here is way more cooler than American stores. I mean look at the size of those crabs. That is what she said anyway.