Food/Grocery Shopping

Posted by: Storm

Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/04/00 07:05 PM

I'm going to Salamanca in August, actually in a little over a week from now. Yayyy!!! I'll be on a slim budget, and I've decided that I'll try to cook some in order to cut costs. Does anyone know anything about foodshopping in Spain? Is it mostly farmer's markets? Or do they have supermarkets? Any websites where I can research this?
Posted by: rgf

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/04/00 07:20 PM

Will you be at a place WHERE you can cook? In Salamanca, there are a few small supermarkets, but most people do the shop-to-shop thing. Bread shop, veggie/fruit shop, etc. Salamanca is compact and you'
ll find lots of places to shop. You can always buy bread, chorizo , cheese etc and have wonderful bocadillos!
Posted by: MadridMan

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/05/00 12:56 AM

Hi Storm. Nope. There are absolutely NO supermarkets in Spain. In fact, the farmers come into the city each day to sell their food and if you don't buy by the time they leave at around noon you'll have to go hungry until the next day. I'm pulling your leg. OF COURSE Spain has grocery stores! I think the first grocery stores did come about relatively recently though (maybe 25-30 years ago.

Other than the Spain-wide El Corte Inglés stores which combine food shopping with department store shopping in many cases, many LARGE all-in-one superstores like Alcampo & Continente have popped up outside of many major Spain cities including Madrid. I visited these two for the first time last year. It was sad, really. This huge tract of real estate had the fast-food places, multiplex cinemas, and specialty shops. It was SO ANTI-Spain in my mind. I felt like I was back in the USA.

[Continente and Pryca has merged together to become a new supermarket called "Carrefour".]

[Most supermarkets in Spain are French: Carrefour, Alcampo, Dia, Champion... The cheapest one in Spain is Dia. Although their products don't have very good quality, they also sell well known brands at very low prices]

But if you're in any city or town, including Salamanca, you'll most likely do your shopping either at the meat, vegetable/fruit, bread specialty shops or one of the many, small-ish grocery stores around that have just 4-5 ailes of food and beverages and 2-3 check-out lanes. Don't worry. You'll have NO problem finding food to buy. But as rgf asked, will you have some place to cook all this great, Spanish food??

Saludos, MadridMan

[This message has been edited by Antonio (edited 08-05-2000).]

[This message has been edited by MadridMan (edited 08-08-2000).]
Posted by: Eddie

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/05/00 05:41 AM

Hey, MadridMan: Pryca is still in business. Maybe Carrefour (a French Conglomerate) is taking it over but it is still operating as Pryca in Madrid and Leganes. It's the large supermarket chain where our relatives do much of their shopping.

And when you go to the other type of market, they don't generally have numbers (like the deli's here in the USA), but they do have an orderly system of 'who's next.' You don't want to violate that system. Usually, when you get to the vendor's 'stall,' you ask who is last and when the next person arrives and asks the same, you can tell them that you are. Then you proceed in that order until "Quien le toca?" is you.

[This message has been edited by Eddie (edited 08-05-2000).]
Posted by: rgf

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/05/00 08:47 AM

Ha, that is SO SPANISH! Quien era el ultimo? A quien le toca? As opposed to the huge outside-town hipermercados, as they are called. I hate them, too! Funny story: in the small town I spend many summers in, in Galicia, they always asked me in GALLEGO, whose turn it was, in the small shops. I leared to say EU and not YO, and asked for a caixa de leite instead of a caja de leche! fun. rgf
Posted by: MadridMan

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/05/00 09:00 AM

Eddie/rgf, I LOVE THIS SYSTEM! And sadly, BECAUSE so many people are leaving their barrios (and their individual specialty markets; for bread, veggies/fruits, meats, etc.) for these SUPERstores on the outskirts of town. What a terrible shame! The same thing will happen there as has happened in most US cities (except for New York City), that all these speicalty markets will no longer get the customers and eventually close down, creating a kind of ghost-town in the neighborhoods, women/people will no longer make their daily/morning walks with bags to these shops, no longer stop for a coffee and the neighborhood café, people eventually move out of the city center to the suburbs, everyone will need cars, you no longer know your neighbors, traffic gets worse and people become alienated from one another. It's all such a terrible shame that these huge comglomerate shopping centers exist outside of town.

At least (I believe) Dia (the very small supermarkets found in most neighborhoods in Madrid) are IN the neighborhoods, occupying little space, understandably carrying fewer brands, prices are a little higher, BUT COME ON!! It's IN your neighborhood and you can get everything you need right there and you don't have to take 1-hour out of your day to drive outside of town for shopping just to save a few pesetas. WHEW! Enough for now. I could go on and on. .... okay, one more paragraph:

Isn't it much better to walk into one of those long-ish, narrow doorways to a little shop that sells only snacks, or nuts, or sweetrolls, or flowers? You walk in, the clerk (and likely the owner) says hello and kindly assists you with your choice and purchase. Then, you go on your way, taking only moments out of your day. You can do this whenever you need something in your neighborhood, you get to interact a little with people you don't know, AND you've helped a hardworking store-owner continue his successful business and maintain the well-being of his family. Come on! This is YOUR neighborhood (or someone's). Isn't it important to keep the neighborhoods alive? If not your's then someone else's?? At least there's no chance the neighborhood bars will close down for lack of customers (unless they all move to the suburbs).

Saludos, MadridMan

[This message has been edited by MadridMan (edited 08-05-2000).]
Posted by: rgf

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/05/00 10:18 AM

Right on Madridman!!! it's what makes Spain Spain!!
Posted by: Antonio

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/05/00 11:05 AM

Eddie,

I didn't mean Pryca wasn't in business now. Pryca and Continente has merged and they keep their supermarkets under a unique name "Carrefour". In fact, Carrefour is the French company who owns Pryca. There used to be supermarkets in Spain called "Carrefour" a long time ago. For some reason, in Spain they have different commercial names. Let's take "Alcampo". The "original" one is French and it is called "Au Champ" (which has nothing to do with the Spanish translation).

To avoid Carrefour from becoming a monopoly, the government has forced them to get rid of some of their branches. But I think they will be a monopoly anyway.

You can read about the new Carrafour name at http://www.continente.es/dosier/comunicado.html

I would like to say that I totally agree with Madridman. I hate this kind of big supermarkets because they pay very low prices to the producers since supermarkets have a big power.

BTW, I don't understand why people keep on buying things on those places. Apart from their great offers, the rest of their products are more expensive than in any other small shops. I take advantage of them and I only go there to buy their special offers.

Regards,

Antonio

------------------
The best tips from your favourite hostal in Madrid.
Hostal Chelo at http://www.chelo.com
Posted by: Diana

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/05/00 12:56 PM

Ok, Ok. You are all right about the grocery stores. But I'm going to stick up for the hipermercados - at least a little!

Way back when La Vaguada was new, and I lived in the Barrio del Pilar, Alcampo had the BEST croissants in the barrio. People made long lives in the store when the time to take them out of the oven came (you could tell by the smell)! It was super convenient, and you could always go down to the far end of the centro comercial to the lovely mercado and get fresh food from stalls. (Hey guys, doesn't it ever bother you that people always ask "¿La última, por favor?" How about "¿El último?" Sorry - I'll get back on track.)

Later I became very attached to the Prycas, especially the one in Las Rozas. I could find everything there. I loved it when they had customer service representatives roll through the store on roller blades. Hey, Spain moves with the times!!

The real problem is not the stores, it's the fact that life is changing in Spain. I believe the single greatest factor in the change is that women are working outside of the home. How can you go to the market, which is without a doubt the best place to buy fresh food, in the morning, and prepare a three course hot meal for the family by 1:00 or 2:00, and hold a paying job? It's impossible. I know - I was in that position. So they do their best on weekends. And the hipermercados are a great help. Why, there are even businesses now in the suburbs that deliver every type of frozen food imaginable to your doorstep. It's sad, but as long as all the adults in a home are out working, homemade meals, and the type of daily shopping that goes with them, are going to disappear.
Posted by: MadridMan

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/05/00 01:40 PM

Hi Diana! I think you've posed some excellent points. Still, it's sad to see Spain change, to become more homogenized with the rest of the world, including the USA. Now you mainly only see old women or the few remaining housewives going to the neighborhood stores.

I too remember seeing clerks on roller blades in Alcampo. It was an amazing sight.

And Diana, it doesn't bother me at all to be asked "¿La última, por favor?" Just a sign of history in my mind. It IS funny to be looked over by all the old women when they turn to see who's behind them and they find this tall, white man standing there.

Saludos, MadridMan
Posted by: rgf

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/05/00 03:41 PM

What happens in most places is this: working couples take the car out to the hipermercados on the weekends and stock up on the big sale items. But the daily compra continues, even among working people. They stop in a store for this and that, for precocinados (prepared dishes). They send the kids. The hipermercados deliver, though, which makes it so easy to pick up the phone and order. When I was in the country in Galicia, I always walked into town and did the daily compra even tho the Corte Ingles would have hauled the stuff to my house free!
Posted by: Eddie

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/06/00 05:56 AM

Speaking of markets: I could spend all day in the 3-story market building on the river in Casco Viejo in Bilbao. It's organized: Fish on one level; Meats on another (with Chorizos & Morcillas from every region and even fresh cochinillos; lamb & beef/veal and pork); and produce on the other level - Visiting there tells me these people really know how to live; and prosperity should be measured on another standard - theirs.
Posted by: rgf

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/06/00 09:07 AM

Great advice on the mercados! Every city has one. It is so much fun to wander (sometimes interestingly gross, too, like all the little dead pigs lined up...). They are usually open in the mornings. You watch people do their shopping. The cafes around the market are usually good, too. Salamanca has a great one rightin town. Madrid has several (there is one right near the apartamentos on Ayala 30). I love them in Galicia, where you see all the fresh seafood just hauled in from the ocean!
Posted by: Storm

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/08/00 04:18 AM

Alright. Alright. Some of you guys are such smarty pants. Admittedly, my post does sound more than a bit naive. I didn't mean for it to sound so silly.

Rgf - Yep, I will have a place to cook I'm sharing an apartment in Salamanca with other students. Bocadillos sound like a good idea.

MadridMan - thanks for the info on groceries with links. Alcampo was especially helpful as it provided price information.

Interesting thread on the advent of the superstore. Sounds like the big debates over stores like Walmart and Home Depot before the US simply succumbed. Nothing like cheap lumber and light bulbs to sooth the savage consumer beast. Ah well.
Posted by: El Boqueron

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/08/00 07:13 AM

I have more faith in the Spanish way of life - I don't think they're going to go down that hipermarket road. The life of the barrio is too important for that, people like to shop and talk, stop at a bar for a cania or a coffee, they like to be outside "en la calle", not stuck in some windowless, soulless consumer dome. The sheer sensual pleasure of everyday life in Spain will defeat the MacDonaldisation of culture!

Visitors to Spain can help this. Sure, first time round you might feel a bit insecure about those bares and tavernas (goddamit, they don't even have a menu!), your lack of Spanish will make you frightened to enter that small, dark shop full of small, dark women, the noise and crush of the mercado will overwhelm you, as you fail to even recognise most of what's on offer. It's this fear of cultural difference, of social failure, that lies behind the success of the international pap merchants. Take heart, and just go for it! Nothing bad will happen to you, and soon, instead of looking for the menu, you'll be asking "?Que hay?"; instead of waiting for the bill, you'll say "?Que te debemos por aqui?" to the camarero who (on only your second visit) already recognises you, and, who knows, may treat you and your friends to a chupito on the house. !Viva la diferencia!
Posted by: rgf

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/08/00 08:14 AM

El boqueron made an eloquent appeal to travelers to GET IN THERE and try things. Such good advice. In Salamanca especially, where there are so many international students, I see the kids speaking English, hanging at the McD's. But the ones who walk in that bar and take a seat, who go to the little shops, who get on the bus and go to the little towns: those are the ones who have a complete experience. I know Spain well, so all this is lo normal for me. When I went to Italy, I discovered what it feels like to do those things when you know the language half-well. And it was great. SImilar to Spain, but the differences stick in my mind: the little pastery shops where you get sandwiches and beer (claro); the trattorias where everyone sits pretty much together at one long table, etc. A fun thing to do in Salamanca is check out all the bars in your neighborhood, find the one that feels comfortable to you, and go EVERYDAY for something. You will end up feeling like they are all your friends in there! rgf
Posted by: Nuria

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/08/00 09:02 AM

Hey madridMan what did you mean when you said: "It IS funny to be looked over by all the old women when they turn to see who's behind them and they find this tall, white man standing there."? We might think it is odd to see a man at the store but I don't think that it was the first time they saw a tall white man, do you mean that Spaniards are small and blue? heheheeee (just kidding!)
Posted by: MadridMan

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/08/00 09:21 AM

Hi Nuria! I say "Tall, White Man" as opposed to calling myself an "American". Let's say, a "non-Spaniard" or a "foreigner". I know there are many Spaniards who are tall and many who are very white, but still they most often have black hair whereas mine is light brown. I can imagine the older ladies turning to look behind them, at their eye-level, and they're looking into my chest. They look up up up and they see someone young-ish and totally foreign, probably wearing clothing that isn't absolutely typical for Spain, and smiling like someone who doesn't belong there. hehehee..

Saludos, MadridMan
Posted by: El Boqueron

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/08/00 09:42 AM

Right on, rgf! That's it, always go back to the same place that you like. Last time my wife and I went to Madrid we found a great place for lunch, so we went back the next day. The menu del dia had wine/beer included and the first day we asked for tinto de verano (full bottle of red wine plus bottle of "soda" - beat that MacDonalds!). Next day we went back we didn't even have to ask for tinto de verano, they just brought it over as soon as we sat down! I love that.

Now that I remember, as we were trying to get in this place (which was full of madrilegnos) we had to pass a group tourists who were nervously peering in. I heard one of them say "It looks like a madhouse!" and they headed off somewhere else. Who knows, maybe they found somewhere nice, but they missed a real treat (more room for us though!).

Before anyone asks me, I don't remember the name of the place! It was down a street near the Perla Austriana (?) hotel/hostal.
Posted by: rgf

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/08/00 01:11 PM

Ha, Boqueron, the best part is when they bring you your 'usual' order... and you wanted to change it that day!! Also, I love how if you are short of the coins, they say, don't worry, you'll pay me manyana (which I do). Only in Spain do you get this treatment as a regular... even if you are only going to be a regular for a week. So, everyone, report back after your Spain trips! Tell us where you received treatment as a regular!
Posted by: Puna

Re: Food/Grocery Shopping - 08/18/00 09:03 AM

RGF - Cafe Aresol (just of the Plaza del Sol) has been my morning coffee place every time I'm in Madrid - sadly only once a year - but yeah, they do remember you - not only after the first time - but also after 10 or 11 months. And yes, before someone asks - first morning back I get treated to welcoming hugs and coffee and on the last day to wine and tears - am counting the days 'til I return