Chinese food is really good, isn't it? But what if you get a craving for some food from your home country? Is imported food available here? Is there enough selection?
I live in a tier 3 city, which means that it isn't too big by Chinese standards. However, I think my city has developed quite a bit since I first arrived here. These days, there is even a store dedicated to selling only imported food from other countries.
In this video, I went to a popular UK supermarket chain called Tesco. It is really similar to Wal-mart. They have upgraded their imported food selection over the years. 2 years ago, they didn't have as much as they do now. But as the city develops, they seem to be adding a wider selection of imported foods to supermarkets around the city.
As you can see from the first picture, they have a whole bunch of pasta and spaghetti. If you are craving Italian food, then I think you can get your fix here!
You also have different brands of pasta sauces to choose from. On the bottom right picture, there are a bunch of imported chips from Mexico (I think) similar to Pringles. If you watch the video, you can see even more types but I don't have pictures of them.
Next, I found a bunch of canned tuna from Thailand. Good to know that they have that here as well.
This coffee was from Japan. I have also found French coffee here as well, but my pictures are seriously lacking for this post hahaha. Coffee is only starting to get popular here. If you want to buy coffee from a supermarket, chances are you will only have Nescafe to choose from. I am not a coffee drinker, but to everyone I talk to about Nescafe, they always give me a disgusted look lol.
The video includes way more items that you can see on display. Basically, most of the imported items are from other Asian countries. I saw a lot of German and Russian beer there, but in terms of food, I mostly saw items from Thailand, Korea and Malaysia. You have to remember that companies don't want to import expensive items from far away that nobody wants to buy. Asians tend to have a preference of eating other Asian food and snacks, so you won't find a huge selection of American items here. I did find Hershey's chocolate syrup though!
Depending on the city you visit, they will either have more or less of these imported products. If you are in Beijing or Shanghai, you can probably most things because there are bigger stores catered to foreigners living there. If you are in a smaller city, expect to find less from back home. Cheese is one thing that foreigners complain they can't find enough of. China does have cheese, but it isn't popular among Chinese people. As a result, cheese variety will be lacking and it may be really expensive.
They do have avocados here as well. Depending on the season, they can be very affordable or ridiculously expensive. During some seasons, they cost about $6 for one avocado, while other times the cost drops to about $1.75 each.
Personally speaking, the most common imported food item I buy is the pure lemon/lime juice in a bottle. Lemons do exist in China, but they are quite expensive even though they are grown locally. I find that a bottle of lemon juice from Italy goes a long way and is much cheaper.
That's all for now folks! I don't often buy imported food because I prefer to cook at home and most items I need can be found in most supermarkets here. I will buy some tasty imported snacks from time to time if I crave it!
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