*** Quoting Bj”rn Forsstr”m from a message to Cindy Haglund ***

 CH>  And you knwo what else? Pancake mix kept too long in the pantry can
 CH> kill you too. Molds are harder to spot on such products than they are say
 CH> on cheese where you can just cut the mold off if it's only just started.

BF> Who keep the mix in the pantry *that* long?

Americans tend to make larger shopping trips intended to cover a much
longer ¨timeframe than most other countries.  While not all in the USA do
this, it is ¨not uncommon to 'grocery shop' only once every 3-4 weeks. 
This is partly due ¨to the highly available frozen foods, and partly due to
just being flat out ¨having more storage space making it 'possible'.  I
wouldnt be shocked to see a ¨box of pancake mix that is 6 months old at
all.

One of the shifts people in Sasebo make is to convert to local shopping
habits ¨which means almost every day to get 'a little something on the way
home' or go ¨out early (as early as 4am) on a weekend to get fresh
fish/seafood for dinner.

The 'freshness' aspect expected by the shoppers is *much* higher here and
one ¨buys in smaller quantities and uses the fresh up to get more.  From
pure ¨observation, I'd say the average Japanese person shops for groceries
3 times a ¨week and 2 other times will drift by the local grocery corner
sites to 'see ¨whats there' and get a little something.  If you want 'fish
on friday' a USA ¨person might get it 2 weeks ahead and freeze it.  A
Japanese person would buy ¨it no earlier than Thursday for a Friday meal.

I'm a mix and match sort now that I have a car.  Once a month I will make a
big ¨trip to the commisary for stuff too heavy to carry home (canned goods,
cleaning ¨products, bottled water with flouride for the kid's teeth) or too
bulky (toilet ¨paper tissue in a 24 pack).  I'll look over the frozen meats
then as anything ¨non-seafood here is pretty pricey out in town.

For my first 3 years here, I lived 1/2 mile from the local open air market
so ¨would shop almost every day on my bicyle ride home and fill my basket
with ¨whatever looked handy for the next day or so.  Fresh clams or a squid
or some ¨chicken necks, some veggies to go with and perhaps a piece of
fruit.  On ¨weekends, Charlotte and i would walk down with our grocery pull
cart ans a ¨backpack on her, and get a larger load, mostly fresh veggies,
grain products, ¨and fruits as well as some seafood and eggs.
                                       xxcarol

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