Bulk Food

Wednesday Dec. 17 2008
On Monday you may recall I took a trip to Carrefour, the grocery store, it is Walmart-ish in size and style. What I did not tell you about was my experience in the meat department. I had told you that all in all the shopping experience was good but there was this one small moment that made me wonder how the Chinese all have not fallen ill with some sort of awful bacterial poisoning.

Here I was slowly pushing my cart through the meat department and truly my mouth was agape and my mind was exploding. Was that an open refrigerator case loaded with chicken legs and thigh parts……loose, some frozen, some thawing, water and blood melting in the bottom of the case? Oh my word, an open refrigerator case with large racks of beef ribs thrown together in a mass? Name an animal and a part and you can find it loose, sort of in “bulk” form if you will. The Chinese ladies were shoulder to shoulder pushing a bit (they all push here in China) reaching in with bare hand and selecting their favorite piece, pushing aside one raw chicken thigh to reach to the bottom of the case and grab the “premium” piece. They would then place their prize in a plastic bag. At this point I just walked to the veg. department. I have no idea where they wiped their hands. I feel ill just writing this for you. Oh and the smell, well, there was a smell but on reflection you would have thought the smell would have been much much worse.

I was in a bit of a daze at that point. I was supposed be buying some ingredients for dinner and now I didn’t want to eat, anything. I was completely grossed out. I must have walked around the vegetables four times before I finally figured out what I could cook with a little tomato sauce.
I will take a picture of this unendorsed FDA procedure of selling poultry and meats in a grocery store. I had my camera when I was there I just forgot to take a picture due to my mind exploding at this time.

I also just want to tell you this is not an open air, local yokel market, this is a modern store. There were no live animals running around or whole chickens with their heads and feet still attached. The meat was cut up as if it were to be packaged, American Style, and then thrown in the case for you to select your choicest piece.