This Is Not Publix

I’m not going to say my flight to London was a nightmare because that’s a little dramatic but it wasn’t great. I was in the middle of the plane, the actual middle of the middle row of seats. I had a Modern Family Phil Dunphy twin on one side of me, in both looks and behavior and an Irish nuclear scientist coming back from a conference in Atlanta on the other side, who weakly attempted to explain his actual job to me, asking at the end “does that mean anything to you?” (no -___- ). I abstained from the plane food voluntarily and sleep involuntarily and landing in London I was going on being awake for almost 24 hours. However, adrenaline & excitement kicked in for landing and customs and after some sign-reading mishaps, I had to remind myself “You are not on Mars. You are just visiting a foreign yet English speaking country. Get it together.”

I took a four hour nap once we got settled and realized how jet lagged I was. It was a terrible internal battle between me wanting to get out and explore the city and wanting to curl up and sleep for 12 hours. A friend and I decided to wander aimlessly and pick up some groceries at Salisbury’s. I noticed nothing dramatically different between England and America in the first few hours of being here besides the obvious driving difference. That all changed when I walked into the supermarket. I hate to call another country’s food weird but there was some weird stuff. Like I don’t know what this product is from anything on the label weird.
                                                                             Exhibit A: 

Ah yes! Good ole Mushys processed peas.

Another interesting difference which I believe is common in many European countries is unrefrigerated eggs. I kept looking for eggs by the milk and yogurt and finally my friend pointed out they’re just casually in the bread section. I love the way Brits do eggs- the only options for eggs in this store Sainsbury’s (a mix of a CVS & Publix) were completely free range with the option to “Meet the Farmer” from an app on your phone. Each egg is stamped with an “egg code” that gives you the farm ID number and that the egg is organic and from the UK.

Warm eggs

I love the weirdness of the supermarket. Never before have I had to stare at a product label trying to discern what it is before buying it. But at the same time, they have every product I like in America, just in a different form. Different yet the same! We are staying at 99 Great Russell Street in the Bloomsbury district, which is home to the University College of London. A truly beautiful area. 

Helping me understand egg codes

Photo: Carly Pelle

More updates to come! xx