Food

I've been meaning to do a whole segment on food for a while, since it differs vastly from anything we're used to back in the States. I've had to become creative and a lot less picky with my food choices here. I haven't talked about it a lot since I already went through the culture shock with food in Russia, and it's pretty similar to here so I knew what I was getting myself into. In fact, in general I've been more surprised and excited here because I've found things that I never did when I was in St. Petersburg. One of the good things about Azerbaijan (and this goes for most of the countries in this area) is that there are tons of grocery stores everywhere. They're all in walking distance because not everyone has a car, and even if you did, it's virtually impossible to park anywhere to actually load any groceries into a car.

There's three different kind of groceries stores: the first is what would be the most similar to a Western grocery store. There are isles with all sorts of various products divided into different categories (breads, pastries, napkins/ towels, shampoo, milk products, you get the idea). You can walk at your leisure throughout these stores and they have most Western kinds of items. For example, I bought a blow dryer at one of these. (I brought one with me but the heat settings were all funky with the converter and I'm a little nuts about making sure my hair looks ok, so I caved and just bought a blow dryer here.) There's dental floss, cleaning products, a meat market (which I stay far away from anyways), every kind of cheese possible except for cheddar or American. Wah. They have Heinz ketchup. This is also where I get the turkey from. Frozen products, etc. So this is the kind of place where I get most of my shopping done at. It's a little bit of a hike though, about a ten minute walk, which means I have to be careful about how much stuff I get and what I can actually carry with me for about 8 blocks. So I usually try to stop here a couple days a week to pick up various items.

The second kind of grocery store is the good old Soviet-era store. There's one of these across the street from my place which makes it highly convenient to go to. However, it's also an exercise in torture if you can't speak Russian or Azerbaijani and you don't enjoy pointing and miming like a monkey. These are again, split up in different sections according to what kind of product is in each area. So there's like drinks/ bread/ pastries/ toiletries/ cheese/ meat/ toys. Yes, toys. For some odd reason they sell little dolls and stuff here. At each section you're not allowed to get your own stuff, you have to tell someone what you want and they fetch it for you (even though you could easily reach out and just grab it yourself) and then you pay in each individual section. It's not like there's glass or a counter separating you from these areas either. It's like a regular isle, but they get real pissed if you try to touch anything yourself. This whole system really makes NO SENSE to me. I don't understand how it's easier to split this stuff up into different areas. I guess if the system worked perfectly then it would make things easier if you only need a couple things, but it doesn't and it actually takes twice as long. That last sentence can also be applied to pretty much everything about communism as well. Good in theory, failure in practice. But I digress. Anyways, so say I need shampoo, water, and bread. I have to go down to the toiletries section, point to the shampoo. Then I pay for my shampoo and they give me a little baggie. Then I walk about 10 feet and point to bread. I get another baggie and pay the approximately 30 geppik for bread. Then I literally turn 180 degrees and point to the water I want, and pay the 50 geppik for water, and get another little baggie. This system is annoying for several reasons. 1) None of the cashiers are particularly happy when you present large bills (which is inevitable if you stop at like three of these little kiosks within the store). So they always scowl at you when you can't pay in exact change. 2) None of the helpers are thrilled about helping you. They scowl too until you get their attention and point to whatever you want. 3) Sometimes they ignore you when they're preoccupied on their phone/ gabbing to a fellow cashier. So it's really irritating if you're in a hurry and they won't select your item even though it's about five times easier to just get it yourself. 4) Lastly, they give you a look of absolute horror if you tell them you don't need a baggie for a certain item. It's like the idea of combining different products into one bag is a foregone concept. Even though they have other grocery stores so I know they've seen it done before. I refused a baggie the other day for a bottle of water (read that again, yup, just a small bottle of water... as if I couldn't hold it or stick it in my large other bag) and I was met with a look of complete horror. The only good thing about this store is that once you've mastered it, and successfully gone around and ordered what you like, it makes you feel super-accomplished and real good about your language skills. Oh, and it's open 24 hours a day.

The third grocery store can be classified as more of a convenience store. These are open pretty late as well, and they're essentially little hole-in-the-wall places. They sell fruit, drinks, chips, snacks, sweets, bread, and sometimes shampoo and other items. It's basically like a mini-CVS. These are good if you just need a quick item and you happen to walk past one. There are literally tons of these little stores everywhere- within a block of my apartment there's probably about 5.

The last kind of store isn't so much a store as a stand. It's a pseudo-fourth place to find food, but only fruit, vegetables, and eggs. (Or a live chicken, if you're up to the challenge.) There are a lot of these too, and all over town. It's the best place to buy fresh fruit and vegetables, and easier than the gesturing and pointing trick in the store. Here, the guys who own the stands are always very friendly and super-excited to speak an American. It's also a lot cheaper than buying fruit or vegetables in the store. They have pretty much every kind of fruit and vegetable possible, including stuff I've never seen before. Except lettuce. I have yet to find lettuce. Therefore, I haven't been able to make any salads, which is a bit of a bummer since they actually do sell blue cheese here too. I've made a friend at one of the fruit stands that's on the walk from the metro to my apartment and it's 1 manat for a couple tomatoes and peppers. Yes... I've begun to eat tomatoes. (My parents are probably falling off their chairs in shock.)

This brings me to my next point about food. What I actually eat. As I said, while I have all these options for food, it's still slim pickings. They sell stuff like pasta, bread, even some frozen items (and pizza, although it's like 10 bucks for a mini-pizza) so I've pretty much been eating that stuff. They have cereal but since I'm not a big milk person, nor do I like to sacrifice sleep to sit around and eat cereal, so I buy packets of muffins and eat one for breakfast. Lunch is the harder part- a lot of times I don't really eat lunch. I'll have a little piece of bread, maybe sometimes with cheese, or a pastry-like bread thing that someone at the university will hand me since they're all about feeding me. If I'm super hungry when I come home I'll scarf down a bigger piece of bread, with some cheese. I have discovered that there's nothing better than slicing up some fresh tomatoes and putting them on a piece of Azerbaijani bread with some plain cheese. My biggest (and generally main) meal is dinner. I've been buying chicken breasts occasionally and sauteing them. I made some potato fries another night. I'll make pasta and either melt cheese or butter. I've also bought some sauces that aren't half bad that can easily be put on the pasta. I could get creative and put them on chicken too, now that I think about it. My best moment was the other day when I made a cheese quesadilla with peppers and tomatoes and dipped it in sour cream. It was probably my best meal to date. I also buy blini (they're a Russian version of crepes... so good) and saute them and eat them with sour cream. They also sell those little on-the-stove packets for soup or pasta but I tried one and it was pretty terrible. There's also a whole array of microwaveable items, but I don't have a microwave which really puts a damper on my style. I keep trying to find stove-top popcorn since popcorn is one of my biggest weaknesses and I can't find any. They sell pelmini in the grocery store, so it's another option for food. For dessert I'll eat a cirok or a pomegranate. Once I ate a pomegranate for dinner because I was too lazy to cook/ had no food. Pomegranates and bread... the meal of a champion.

They sell canned vegetables too, but as the idiot that I am, I got super-excited when I saw peas and bought the can. And then I got home and realized I didn't have a can opener. Since I'm too cheap to buy one, I've been attempting to take the knife and go caveman-style at the can trying to open it, always with these visions in the back of my head of my hand ending up bloodied and infected since I got too frustrated with the knife/ can. Since I don't want to buy more peas since I have a perfectly good can of peas, I'm going to see what damage I can go with my nail clipper (post- sanitizing, don't worry) on this tin can. What I wouldn't do for a Swiss army knife. Oh, living abroad...

Lastly, the price. Most of this stuff is all pretty cheap. Since I'm trying to be super-thrifty and save what little of my salary that I can so I can travel in the upcoming months, I always buy the cheapest stuff I can find. Cheap mayo, cheap napkins, cheap toilet paper, cheap vegetable oil.. you get the point. Also, I have no idea what the brands are, so it's not like I could be snobby if I tried. I might cave in an buy the Heinz ketchup though- it's so tempting. The fruit and vegetables are all really cheap, like I said, especially from a stand. I pay about 2-3 manat at a stand (like $3.50 max) and then about 15-20 manat ($17-$23) the grocery store each time I go, which lasts me for about a week. It's really cheap if you just shop the right way and don't buy stupid expensive stuff. (Like the pizza.) I'm sure lettuce would be really expensive if I ever manage to find it, and once I saw a tiny little head of broccoli for 7 manat, like 8 bucks. I like broccoli, but I'm not forking over that kind of money.

All in all, it's an ok living in terms of food. It's not like the U.S., but then again, I didn't come all the way out here to eat and live like an American for 10 months.