Grocery Shopping

I love going to grocery stores in new places. Where people buy their food says so much about the culture. The grocery stores in Texas are such a contrast to those in Europe, specifically Prague. At home we have H.E.B., of course, with long aisles and high shelves. You can buy anything you can imagine from meat and fish to frozen cookie dough to makeup. If you want a healthier but more expensive option, we have Whole Foods that has quite the selection of organic and health foods.

In Prague, there are so many options; Billa seems to be a go-to for everyday shopping. It has lots of variety and is located right in front of a tram stop, making the lines for checkout long at rush hour. There are smaller markets with just the essentials that seem to be open later for last minute purchases and there are farmers markets. I’m amazed at how cheap fresh food is here. It is interesting that here, stores are specialized. You cannot buy paper towels at the same store as your pasta. Shopping can be a multi-store process.

At home people buy prepackaged, frozen or fast food meals because they are affordable but here people can buy locally sourced fruits and veggies at an affordable price. I wonder if this encourages healthier eating here or if they face the same health struggles America does.