I have a lot to say about my trip back to the US

[expatgirl]

But for now, just this:

American grocery stores are HUGE and FULL of STUFF, most of which I don't understand!

You know that scene in The Hurt Locker where Jeremy Renner's character stands, dazed, in a cereal aisle the size of a studio apartment while he tries to choose between 8 nearly identical kinds of frosted wheat? 

Yeah, that.  

Comments

[aerialiste]

I cried once in Star Market in Boston for this reason, there were a hundred kinds of orange juice and I'd only been back in the states a few days after 2 years in the UK. (In my defense that particular Star Market was so huge they handed out maps when you came inside.) There's no culture shock like reverse culture shock, truly.

[expatgirl]

Oh lord that sounds like the time I went to a Super Target and had to leave immediately. My brain just couldn't handle an airplane hangar full of scented candles and snack cakes.

I sometimes find the local stores a bit small or limited, to be honest, but surely there's a middle ground between 'what do you mean you don't sell orange juice?' and 'why are there so many kinds of orange juice?'

[aerialiste]

Yesterday screened the first half of the documentary Food, Inc. to my rhetoric students and the look on their faces when they realized like six companies are behind ≈40,000 "different" food products in the store—

[expatgirl]

Oh I bet! I had a bit of that experience when I worked at a packaging design firm. My client was P&G, and when I went through their onboarding materials I read about all the brands they control and their 'strategy' for getting the developing world to be good, loyal consumers.

Anyway, after a year of dealing with them I stopped buying P&G products unless I've got no other choice. (Though it's hard to keep track of all the brands they own...)