They like their salt. A lot. A lot a lot. I don’t know why, but they put salt on everything. Caprese Salad- salted. Pizza- salted. Maybe they just use the salt leftover from winter and put it on anything that will stand still, specifically food.
Ice doesn’t exist, at least not until winter time outside. You cannot get iced drinks. At all. Can’t even find an ice tray to make my own ice at my flat. When I went to Russia someone in my group asked for ice in their drink and the waiter replied: “Ice in the streets, not in the drinks.” This seems to apply equally in Switzerland.
So I love milk. A lot. I drink milk at home throughout the day. It’s my favorite. So I was super excited to come to a country known for its dairy. Until I went to the grocery store. There I discovered that the lowest fat milk available is 2.5%!! WTF!! And it went up to 3.7%!! I don’t know what chewing one’s milk would be like, but I imagine I could find out. So I am now drinking milk that is more fatty than the milk I have been drinking for the last 15 or so years. It’s not easy to get used. But man oh man it does taste as good as you would imagine!!
The eggs here cost about a franc per eggs [sold in 6 and 10 packs]. And they are not sold from the refrigerated section. Nope on the shelf like the standard groceries. Yep. Not at all weirded me out…oh no, wait, it did!
On prices at the grocery store, everything, EVERYTHING is BEYOND expensive. Like ouch. Big ole ouch. An 8 pack of razor blades that sells for about $30 at Target was SF50!!! [Oh yeah, and that’s just the price on the shelf, with the currency conversion that is about $60 (luckily this is going down because the Swiss government was concerned that the exchange rate was getting prohibitively high and are now actively working to lower it, THANK GOD!!)]
In general, my diet just won’t be anything like it is at home (and this isn’t just because of my limited [read singular] method of cooking):
Yes, most of this learning is focused on the grocery store and the like. But other than German class, setting up my new life, and exploring with Josh. As time goes on, this list will expand, and is sure to include more positive aspects of Swiss life [and even some things that are better than back home (blasphemy, I know!)].
The "Mexican food" section of one of my grocery stores. Dad: no jalapenos. It also features products I have NEVER seen: 1) by Old El Paso, 2) on American grocery shelves. Desperation is the only reason I will ever shop on these shelves.
Did you know Old El Paso made chips? Let alone "Nachips?" Me either!!
The single shelf of "Mexican food" at the other grocery store.
Now this I am familiar with!! But it was like 12 francs [like $15ish]. Again...how bad will the desperation get for something familiar
Look Daddy!! Dibs!!! But here they are Maxibon Pops! And cost 5F!! But we got a kick out of it. They also sell Ben and Jerrys [but none of the same flavors].
Josh's lunch yesterday [Thursday]. He thought he was ordering a bratwurst. What he got was a garden salad with "cold hot dogs" [un-grilled/fried bratwurst]. We laughed. A lot.
Yes, most of this learning is focused on the grocery store and the like. But other than German class, setting up my new life, and exploring with Josh. As time goes on, this list will expand, and is sure to include more positive aspects of Swiss life [and even some things that are better than back home (blasphemy, I know!)].
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