Seafood City

 Everyone needs to eat. 

 

Other than Safeway and Costco, I was not familiar with the nearby options.  Places we explored have included Pacific Supermarket, Don Quijote, Foodland, H-Mart, and Seafood City.

 

"Culture Shock" would be a good way to describe my experience in our neighborhood grocery store, Seafood City.  Most things were different from what what I was used to, having spent half my life in south central Michigan.  Photos are from Yelp.

 

To start with: The Fish.  With a name like "Seafood City," you would expect a large selection.  And they did not disappoint. 

The store will also clean and fry your fish for free.

 

Signs in Seafood City everywhere declared, "Celebrating Filipino Pride."  Much of the inventory was from the Philippines.  Our neighborhood store is part of a chain that started in San Diego, California.  It  is owned by a Filipino family, and seems to stay true to its roots.

 

 

Hawai'i is a rich tapestry of cultures and ethnicities.   People take pride in their culture(s) of origin, as well as celebrating the diversity of their neighbors.  Seafood City is a good example of both, as I saw people from many backgrounds shopping and working there.

 

The culture shock continued through the produce section.  While there were many fruits and vegetables that I recognized, there were also some that I did not.  This made sense, as I was now living in a tropical environment.  But it was also another sign that locals ate differently than me (at least the me that is starting out this year).

 

Seafood City brands itself as a "Grocerant."  They consider themselves part grocery store, part restaurant.  

 

There were many places to buy prepared food. They have their own fresh food prepared area, featuring Filipino dishes and a bakery.  

 

They have a branch of Jolibee's, the popular Filipino fast food chicken chain.  There were other options as well.  

 

 

Every time I've visited, these prepared food areas had lines of eager customers.

 

Back in Michigan, Meijer always had a fresh deli, and Walmart always had a restaurant inside.  But it was always a side, or additional, section of the main store.  In Waipahu's Seafood City, and in many other grocery stores I've visited, the layout and the energy has seemed very different.  People really do embrace their local grocery store as both grocery store and restaurant.  The employees at Seafood City seemed to embrace this as well, and there was pride in the food they were serving.  

 

Living in Waipahu means Filipino culture is all around.  This just the first foray.

 

My plan is to explore the culture by learning how to cook a few dishes.  I've already eaten some delicious foods.

 

In the non-perishable section at Seafood City, I discovered 3-in-1 instant coffee.  Instead of wrestling with three different containers, the idea is to hold the coffee, creamer, and sugar in one easy-to-open-and-use packet.  The store had a wide variety of brands.  Why am I only now discovering this, in Hawai'i?  No idea.

 

We spent about $140 on our first trip.  A portion of that money went towards ingredients for bulalo; there will be a separate post about making this Filipino dish.