Midweek feria visit! The weekends have been busy or I’ve had stuff to do early, and haven’t got a chance to head down to the Vega of late, so my fridge was really hurting. However, spring has sprung, and so everyone and their brother is planning meals out of the house a-plenty, so I didn’t really end up buying that much. But I still wanted you to see what I picked up? Below is everything, not just the fresh fruits and veggies, as today I also bought cheese, edamame and za’atar, none of which are terribly Chilean, but hey, neither am I.
The dollar is at 688. Very strong. Come visit!
kilo roma tomatoes (called pomarola here) 850 CLP= $1.24
bunch parsley 300 CLP= $.44
bunch cilantro 300 CLP= $.44
kilo mandarines 600 CLP= $.88
less than a quarter of mixed greens (1000 for 250 grams) 850 CLP= $1.24
two eggplants 670 CLP= $.97
one cucumber 330 CLP= $.48
three artichokes 1000 CLP= $1.45
grana padano cheese 3800 CLP= $5.53
cream cheese 1200 CLP= $1.74
za’atar 3500 CLP= $5.09
edamame (about a kilo unpeeled, alleges to be 585 gr edible portion) 3500 CLP= $5.09
Total 17,100 CLP= $24.86
It is extremely exciting to me that I can get the mixed greens, za’atar and all the rest in Chile. It is a constant point of discussion in Santiago of late the rising number of immigrants. I can’t wait to see what other food products sail our way due to the recent changes. The za’atar store (Rincón Arabesco, on Antonia Lopez de Bello in Patronato) has been there as long as I have, but I don’t recall seeing edamame at Assi Market (same street, closer to the Vega) before about a year ago. The grana padano that they have at Quesos Arturitos (do a search on blog for locations, there are many, all in/near the vega as far as I know) I have had at other people’s houses, but I usually get a local sheep cheese, just trying something different.
I almost forgot, how to make your casero (fruit and veggie seller) smile. When refusing the bag that they are trying to give you, hold up the vegetables (this works best with artichokes, broccoli, romaine lettuce, cilantro and parsley), tell them that you don’t need a bag, that you’re going to just walk down the street with X thing like this. Where like this means, like it’s a bouquet of flowers. I tried it four times in the past two days. People seem to like it, though somewhat hard to capture in a selfie, due to lack of orangutan arms. Also trivia point: cilantro=curvy, parsley=pointy. I can finally see the difference. Can you?
