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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?
Check this video and post to find out!
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.
Asian Products FTW
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!
Expensive Items
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!
Thanks for reading & watching!
You should also check out:
Is Chinese Food Low Quality? Organic Farming in China
Is Chinese Food Really Strange & Bizarre?
Why The Heck Did I Move to Communist China?
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wow , I didn't realize you can get almost all the usa foods so easy there ,
I wonder where there fruits and vegetables come from because in north America there is a lot of recalls on Chinese food.
Most food here is grown in China. Food is pretty fresh here. I think pesticides might be a problem because the use a lot, but there are soaps you can use to remove some of the pesticides. I presume that a lot of recalls might be for seafood? Perhaps the fish here contain too many heavy metals.
If you really want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat with him - the people who give you their food give you their heart.
I've always wondered what the imported foods aisle would look like in China. I've been to South America before but the selection is not as drastically different as China. I'm an Asian born Canadian who often gravitates to the import aisles here in Canada, I can see myself gravitating towards the import aisle in China but for Spaghetti and such haha.
Nescafe is pretty gross, good to know when I ever go to China!
The selection is definitely increasing over the years. When you go to bigger cities, you have very big imported food stores (and they are very expensive!). In those stores, you can even buy imported meats, vegetables, fruits, etc. It definitely is nice to have once in a while but you should eat Chinese food as much as possible if you don't want to go broke lol.
Where in Canada are you?
That's crazy that it can get pretty expensive. Haha, good tip - eating a lot of chinese food is not an issue for me!
I'm from Edmonton, Alberta. We finally have ended (fingers crossed) our long winter and I was able to finally wear shorts outside. How long have you been in China for? You seem like a worldly traveler from your post. Would love to get to that level some day!
It's been pretty warm in China recently. Our weather is definitely better than back in Canada. I have been in China for almost 4 years!
I work here and I have a lot time to travel so I have traveled China quite thoroughly.
Haha nice! a fellow Canadian! Rock on brother, keep up with the interesting posts!
Thanks @blam! Hope to see you around again =)
Interesante tu post, mientras lo leia me estaba acordando lo similar que es a un supermercado en la Isla de Margarita, llamado lainschum, además de vender alimentos locales, tienen una gran variedad de productos para preparar comida china, de hecho acá en Venezuela la comida china es muy conocida y buscada. No hay como el café criollo venezolano, una delicia al paladar. Un gran saludo amigo @kenanqhd
Thank you. A lot of people from South America come to China. I have seen plenty of Colombians in Guangzhou.
nice i feel like especially when you first get there some recognizable imported foods would be appreciated!
Yes. As you are dealing with culture shock and getting used to the food, it is nice to be able to buy something you recognize from back home while you adjust.
Metro is my favorite supermarket in China.
Carrefour also has a few imported items that are reasonably priced.
It all depends on location though, even in Shanghai there are major differences in each stores product selection.
We have a Carrefour here but I have never seen a Metro.
You say, "Lemon does exist in China, but the price is quite expensive even locally grown, you find that a bottle of lemon juice from Italy goes a long way and is much cheaper." I wonder why that can happen, but many citrus farms in China but why lemon juice prices there are expensive. Whether lemon juice is not produced locally but they are importing as well.
It's a mystery to be honest.
yes okey..
As weird as it is one of my favourite things to do in a foreign country is go to a supermarket and look at the variety of food items they stock. Thanks for the post :)
Yooo, me too! I can spend a lot of time in a supermarket in another country. What country has your favourite supermarket selection? lol
That is interesting. we see so many manufactured goods from China it is nice to see that China imports things too.
When I lived in Taiwan I always loved seeing what foods they had in the import isle, but the food there was so much better than western foods so I never bought anything.
Chinese foods are very exotic and eye-catching
They sure are! I don't need to eat imported food that often.
Here in Latin America you can see a lot of similar foods and crazy Chinese food and they are too good
Learning new things every second of my life
En China no es recomendable consumir el bacalao, los champiñones envasados, los cuales son importados. Interesante Post.