Maybe for fear of the ‘(un)known’ or maybe because it feels more natural to buy products whose name you can read, maybe for the nostalgia that grips you when you’re so far away from your Country…the average expat tends to buy considerable quantities of imported food: meat from Australia and Argentina, UHT milk mostly from France and New Zealand, pasta from Italy and Spain, wines from anywhere but China (the most popular local wine is Dynasty – which foreigners read as “Die Nasty”), imported frozen foods (only if when you get the box out of the supermarket freezer it doesn’t come alive…clear sign that somewhere on its way, it hasn’t been kept at the right temperature and has in the meantime defrosted only to be put in the freezer again ready to be sold), and over the years the variety of imports has increased much to the delight of us foreigners…
