Mordechai Housman wrote:

> There were a few places in Brooklyn, though, where you could exotic
> herbs, roots, and so forth. The big local Shopright had a nice, very
> large selection, though I didn't see too many people overwhelming the
> store and rushing to those aisles.

Few?? My stepson and his Mom just moved to an area off Avenue U in
Coney Island, Brooklyn. He took us for a walk last time we were there,
and within 3 blocks of his apartment, there were dozens of small,
medium, and large produce, fish, and grocery storelets, all with
eye-popping varieties of interesting seasonings and foods.

Shoprites tend to have a good selection of herbs and spices, and most
of the large supermarkets I've seen in the northeast and in Canada this
summer, have a section of fresh herbs in with the produce.

> Where I live now, in Rockland County, there is (AFAIK) only one
> supermarket near me that carries fresh herbs and such: such as rosemary,
> chives, basil, and so forth, though not as wide a selection as I'm sure
> many people here would demand in their local stores. It's actually one
> of the smaller supermarkets, but they have a decent selection of
> vegetables. So I have changed my shopping habits to shop in this store
> as much as I can.

I'm going to bet it's a Pathmark. I'm curious as to what part of
Rockland county you live in (you don't have to say, of course), but the
areas I've been to (Harriman, Tuxedo, Ringwood, UGL, Hewitt) the
markets carry at least a decent variety of fresh and jarred seasonings.

> In one other VERY big supermarket I asked the guy if he had fresh
> rosemary, and he said he didn't know what it was, and no one ever asks
> for it. I was a bit stunned, to tell you the truth. Rosemary is not such
> an exotic spice. I hadn't asked for the root of some Mexican vegetable,
> such as a friend of mine used to use a lot. So I went to the dried spice
> rack to show him what it was, and I couldn't find it there either!! Even
> in Brooklyn it hadn't been this difficult!
>
> Oddly, this very big supermarket has a much wider (and often better)
> selection of fruits than the other one. So I wind up having to go to the
> big place for fruits and a few other things, and to almost the other
> side of town for vegetables and herbs and so forth.
>
> But my point here is to wonder: have any of you ever discovered adults
> who were really unaware of some basic foods? Is this common?
>
> Mordechai

Depends on the adults. Those who have to feed themselves, and do not
have the budget to eat out or buy packaged foods, learn what is in the
stores. Those whose spouses do all the cooking and shopping may well
not know anything beyond what is served at the table.

It's not uncommon to have school kids visit a farm, so they can see
where food comes from, where milk comes from, etc.

And I had one woman in a diet program tell me that the perimeter of the
supermarket (where the produce, fish, meat, chicken, dairy and baked
goods are) was much more expensive than buying canned goods.

Was your accquaintance yeshivish? It's possible that he might not be
familiar with food preparation. Depends on how much housework his
mother made him do. Or what kind of cook she was. Some people believe
that canned and frozen foods are better or easier to prepare than
fresh. Sometimes they're right.

maxine in ri