Harrod's is King

Is the American grocery store the cause of the downfall of cuisine in our country or just a symptom?  I am not sure what the answer is to this question.  It is a chicken versus the egg kind of argument. 

Convenience has won out over cuisine.  There are more and more frozen meals ready in five minutes or less and boxes of almost ready to eat meals.  It is not that you don’t know this or that we don’t all buy them at least once in a while.  I am not against the occasional Hot Pocket or Mac and Cheese dinner.  It is not only the selection of fast foods that I want to bring to your attention but the lack of entertainment in the experience.  What I miss is the kind of food buying experience that I have seen in foreign countries.

There is a market called Dalymar located in Munich, Germany.  Stepping into the food emporium Dalymar is like stepping back in time.  The store is set up with distinct areas for different types of products and each area has an attentive seller on hand.  These are sellers who have actual knowledge and can direct you in your purchase further than just showing you on which shelf a product is located.  My purchases included some high-end bars of chocolate, a decorative tin of mini truffles and some tea.  The tea seller was most helpful, despite the language barrier, and guided me to some wonderful selections.

But my introduction to the idea that a food store should be an entertaining experience began with Harrod’s of London.  Harrod’s is a store where they say you can buy anything and indeed they have floors of clothing, toys and things you will see nowhere else in addition to the most magnificent food market I had ever witnessed.  The staff at Harrod’s were all dressed in period clothing that made me feel like I had been transported straight into a Dicken’s novel.  The counters and refrigerated cases all gleamed and each section had a purveyor who seemed to have as much pride in their area as they would if it was their own individual store.  There was a section for everything from bread and dessert, prepared foods, confections and chocolates, fine charcuterie and, being London, an expansive selection of teas.

I know that a lot of this was about tourism and probably only the higher income family could afford to shop at Harrod’s for their everyday food needs.  There are normal grocery stores over there, too.  I don’t want to circumvent the American grocery store altogether, just find a little more of that knowledgeable staff, service and attention to detail.  It is about slowing down our lifestyle enough to realize that life should be experienced and not just lived.