Food Shopping

"The boat is in!" A phrase like this might not mean much to you. I know that before we moved to Micronesia, if someone told me that “the boat is in” I would have felt a mix between indifference and confusion, as in “Why tell me that?” Now when a friend calls, texts or IMs me to tell me this very phrase I feel a strong sense of urgency verging on panic. I've got to get to the store before all the good stuff is gone.

Food shopping in Pohnpei is like going on a treasure hunt without the clues. There is no one-stop shopping, so to knock out a shopping list requires several store visits. Different stores seem to stock different things or if they have the same things, the prices are quite different. Items found one place at one time are not guaranteed to be there a second time. It is almost as if the supplier is different every time. It is possible we receive rejects. Like, “This is not selling well. Get it off our shelves and send it to Micronesia – they’ll eat anything.” I am just guessing, but I would not be surprised if that was an actual quote. That is the only way I can explain turkey tails. Turkey tails are very popular here and as you may imagine, they are at least 90% fat with bits of hidden meat.

Food prices are at least twice that of the U.S. It is $6 for a pound of butter, so I don’t cook much in the way of French cuisine here. Cheese is about $8 for 8oz, so that is a rare luxury. Flour is about $5 for a 5# bag, but like most imported items, it is not always available on island. A common phrase is “stock-up” meaning if you see it, get a lot of it because you might not see it again. This enkindles a food hoarding impulse that is amplified by the fact that other people are stocking-up too. There are four bags of popcorn in my fridge right now so I won’t run out for a while. I once bought three bags of a stir-fry vegetable that looked decent. I found them to be quite good and went back to buy six more bags. That was many months ago and I have not seen anything comparable since. For some reason I can always find frozen okra and canned beets. Food donation centers in the U.S. seem to have the same inventory right down to the expired goods. By law, stores here are expected to pull expired items from the shelves and place them on separate shelving labeled “Expired – Not for Human Consumption – Animal Food”. This does happen, but without a task force insuring adherence, many regularly shelved items are outdated. Check the packaging.

Most everything needs to be kept in the freezer or refrigerator or it will spoil in the heat and humidity or bugs will get into it. Not having a separate freezer is a major disadvantage. 

Wall-Mart is not a knock-off of the hyper-consumerism superstore. It is a small version of a western style grocery that is located next to an historic landmark called ‘the Spanish Wall.’

Most local stores do not have signage. Why put a sign up if all your family and friends already know where your store is?

A store I call “Hut Mart” is actually known locally as Simon’s. Thatched roof local markets sell fish and locally-grown produce. I will arrange my meals around what I can find locally and fill it out with imported items such as rice or bread I bake from imported flour. Surprisingly, there is not always fish for sale or coconuts and bananas. I wondered why local items are frequently out-of-stock even within the right growing/fishing season. The market owner told me that when someone in the fisher or farmer persons’ family has a payday (every two weeks) or a social security check (at the end of the month) they don’t need to work and take a few days off so there is little brought into the market.

You can find local eggs for $5 a carton. This is surprising; I guess the value of fresh local eggs justifies the highest egg prices I have ever seen. The other option is $3.50 for one to two month old imported eggs (without an expiration date). Pohnpei is known for its black pepper, but is sells here for $5.25 for two tablespoons, so it is far more expensive than imported pepper and locals can’t even afford it.

Ellen’s market will grind the hard coconut (copra) from the shell – which sure beats me taking 30 minutes to work up a sweat doing the same thing. Simon’s market will fillet fish for a nominal fee. The local food is spectacular such as taro root, breadfruit, 32 different varieties of bananas, pineapple, starfruit, cucumbers, purple sweet potatoes, avocados, papaya, pumpkin, mangos, limes, bok choy, insanely spicy miniature chiles, small eggplant and a green leaf called ging ghan with a peppery taste.

The up side is that I am now a more efficient shopper and more creative with my meals.  When I return to the U.S., I may live at the local farmer’s market, but I will also miss the fresh tropical bounty.