Food shopping

Although I am sure at one point people favored the local corner store it appears that most people get their staples at one of several of the large supermarket chains one of which recently got bought out by Walmart (figures).  For quick things, we do have several "corner stores" where we can get our daily bread and milk etc. as well as a corner "veggie/fruit" place where it appears things are more expensive than the supermarket.  The kids get a kick out of running down there (1 block away) to pick things up for me and encourage me to run out of milk.  There are also random people selling artichokes and oranges in bags on the street as well as some more formal vendor stands in some neighborhoods.

I went shopping at one of the larger stores on Sunday and was pleased to see that there were a lot of people advertising food next to little stands.  I immediately thought "samples!" like Sam's Club.  Unfortunately, they were just holding up the candy bars, coffee, yogurt, etc. to better display them.  Another reason why Chileans aren't as heavy as Americans - they only tease you but don't give you the samples!

A few other things at the grocery store:

1. They sell Diente de Dragon - literally Dragon's tooth but actually bean sprouts.  This was a dish at a Chinese restaurant and we couldn't figure out what it was.
2. I still haven't tried every type of fresh bread that a typical supermarket sells but we are getting there.
3. You have to get your produce and bread weighed before checking out in special weighing areas.  I forgot once and got chastised and was not allowed to purchase the item unless I ran back to the back of the store.
4. There doesn't seem to be any fresh milk.  It is all sold in 1 liter cartons.  For a family that drinks a gallon every 2 days or less it is going to get old fast.
5. Besides classic winter fruits (citrus and apples) they sell a lot of prickly pears (sabras).
6. They have an entire aisle devoted to mayonnaise.  Not sure what that is about but I'll keep an eye out for dishes with a lot of mayo.
7. Half of the cakes incorporate dulce de leche (called manjar here). 
8. You can get empanadas almost anywhere but smaller bakeries seem to have the tastier (and fresher) ones
9. Paper products are much more expensive here - there must be a forestry-based industry here somewhere.
10. There are a lot of Chilean wines to choose from - we are working through the Merlots first.  It will take a lot longer to get through the wine than the bread!