re: #520 iceweasel

The cultural differences are super interesting. You can find loads of stuff in even a tiny market in scotland (like garam masala) that you can’t always easily find in some big US supermarkets. There’s a tiny spice shop in town where Jimmah and I can get lots of stuff. We’re making our own hummus now and it’s no problem to find tamarind paste.

But no tex-mex, and no cajun or creole. That’s unpossible! /

It’s a bit weird for me that it’s impossible to find andoullie or even kielbasa. There are places to order it from, but again, money, you know.

To share with you… a short essay about the first time I experienced the “traveling merchants” in Eastern France.

I was wondering how the populace in these small French hamlets acquired their department store type items. It’s easy. Instead of having a shopping mall every 2 miles, Sears, so to speak, comes to the town.

Once a week travelling merchants set up stalls in the early morning, up and down the ancient streets. They hawk everything from furniture to clothes, housewares to CD’s. No parking lots, no traffic. The sun for lighting, the breeze for air conditioning and the streets for storefronts. And by lunchtime they are packed up, moving out of town leaving nothing but the quiet peace of a small French village.