Grocery Shopping in Italy

So far, today has been an enjoyable Naples day. I woke up to nice weather and what was to be the beginning of my second term of Italian, by driving through the town of Pozzuoli and then a short but scenic drive down the coast before arriving at the NATO base to start class by 9:00. Before leaving class today our ‘professoressa’ asked us what we were doing after class (in Italian, of course). My answer - grocery shopping on the way home at a large, American-style, Italian supermarket, by the name of Ipercoop (pronounced EE-per-cope). We are fortunate to have one conveniently located very near our home.



coin-releasable shopping carts



Let start me begin by saying that buying groceries at this kind of Italian supermarket is pretty much the same as it is in any stateside supermarket, with a few exceptions. You can see one of them in this picture.

Some enormous Italian supermarkets (kind of like a Wal-Mart) will charge you 1 Euro for a cart. You'll need a 1 Euro coin to free the cart so you can push it around the store. Once you return the cart and lock it into place, your coin pops back out and is returned to you. And, yes, I did have my 1 Euro coin handy for the cart today. Believe me, there have been times when we’ve had to get back in the car and drive home just because we didn’t have a coin. So far I’ve not seen these kinds of carts in the small supermarkets in Italy, thank goodness.



 Trash can for the gloves, scale/sticker printing machine



Today I realized there are really just a few more differences worth pointing out, and they happen in the produce section of the store. I had to put these little disposable plastic gloves on while handling loose fruits and vegetables (makes perfect sense, really). So, that’s the first thing. Next, of course, you find plastic bags (near the plastic gloves) and fill them with your desired fruits and veggies, but then . . . here’s the catch, you have to look for and remember the code on the bins' label! Then walk over to a different area (still remembering the code of your desired produce), place your bag on the scale and push the button that corresponds to that code (usually a number, or a number and a picture), and then wait for the printed sticker to come out of the scale/sticker-machine and stick it on to your plastic bag.

The amazing thing is you did this whole thing in complete silence, not knowing a word of Italian; or, as in my case, starting to be able to read a little Italian.

However, and this is a BIG however, today I messed up big time and somehow forgot I was in an Italian supermarket and I didn’t put the little stickers on the plastic bags of apples and oranges. Maybe they just looked too yummy! It took forever in the check-out line, and when I finally plopped my purchases onto the conveyor to slide up to the checker, she was pointing judgmentally at my plastic bags, obviously trying to tell me that I needed stickers and must go back. I certainly didn’t want to have someone at the store do it for me, so I just told her never mind – not with words, mind you, all with hand gestures that she must have easily understood. People behind me were already getting impatient and starting not to like me very much. They were probably thinking something like, “Who is this stupid American that doesn’t even know that she should put the stickers on her produce?”

The other difference in an Italian supermarket is that you might have to pay a small amount for a bag to carry your purchases, but today I didn’t have to . . . although I did have to ask for the bags for some reason. I had to tell the checker that I wanted two bags. Everyone else seemed to have their own eco-friendly-reusable bags. (*note to self . . . next time buy a few of these bags!) After the items are scanned they were shoved into a holding area where you are expected to bag them yourself. This is best accomplished with two people (but not today), one to do the bagging and the other to try to figure out how much to pay. Paying isn't always as easy as just holding out a bill larger than you think you'll need; Italy is habitually short of small change, so it's likely that they'll pester you for your coins. Ugg! Then, as soon as you're done paying, like I was today, the next person’s groceries begin to move into a holding area sectioned off next to yours; and since this "foreigner" was evidentially taking far too long! Whew! By now, I just wanted to get out of there and “practice” this again another time.

Little by little I’ll get better at this; just not today. It was still kind of fun though!