Monday, February 27, 2012

It's getting harder to shop all the time

As time goes by, I find fewer of the foods I'm seeking in the store. I'm talking here about mainstream grocery stores. Never mind the admittedly obscure things I sometimes hunt like sweetbreads - I'm talking regular foods here. Some recent examples:
* Fresh ham (whole leg, on the bone).
* Calves Liver
* Fresh horseradish root. Found this at the 4th place I looked.
* Breast of veal (any size piece - let alone a whole one).
* Hot dogs worth eating (sometimes you (and your kids) just want a good hot-dog)
* Whole Brisket (not just a flat cut)
I could go on.

There are over 30,000 different products in a typical suburban supermarket. Where's the food gone?

So I asked around. My friend told me, "People don't cook anymore."
So, naively, I asked, "So what's the store for?"
"Packaged foods... My daughter told me the other day that they only buy it if it's in a package."
Now this is interesting to me - because I happen to make packaged food products for a living. So you'd think I'd be happy to hear this. But I still want to cook sometimes. Anybody else trying to stock their larder in the modern supermarket finding it challenging?