Walking down the aisle

Ding dong... cashier number four please

Food, glorious food in London’s Borough Market

Hello again. I’m sure you’ve guessed by the image in this edition that I haven’t taken a stroll down ‘that’ kind of aisle. I’ve simply been paying more attention when I do my food shopping by strolling into stores I’ve never been into before, browsing aisles I don’t usually walk down and searching for foods I’ve never tried.

Walking

How do you approach your weekly food shop? Are you stuck in a rotation rut, buying the same items each time, or do you take culinary adventures and try new things? Do you take your time, lingering by the baked goods and loitering next to the snacks? Or do you treat it like a race and get in and out as quickly as you can?

I love food, cooking and trying new things, but I usually do my food shop in a rush. And despite what I like to tell myself, I’m probably not as adventurous as I think I am. And it turns out I’m not alone. Poke about on the internet¹ and you’ll uncover a raft of studies that suggest Brits are creatures of habit when it comes to choosing what to eat. A 2014 study by Old Jamaica Ginger Beer revealed that 60 per cent of us eat the same seven regular meals a week, and KitchenAid discovered a similar result in 2021 with a poll that suggests 59 per cent of us eat the same six meals on a loop.

Our lunch habits are pretty routine, too. A 2013 study by Wonderful Pistachios found that 70 per cent of Brits have been eating the same lunch for as long as they can remember, and a 2017 poll by New Covent Garden Soup Company found that one in six office workers has eaten the same lunch every day for six years. Now I enjoy a Pret sarnie as much as the next person – but eating the same one? Every day? For. Six. Years? Blimey.

Worried that I had already fallen into a food trap of my own making, I set off in search of something new. I had no idea what I was looking for. But I decided it had to be something I’d never eaten before and, ideally, something I hadn’t heard of. Of all the food stalls, groceries and markets in London, Borough Market seemed to be the place where I’d have the best chance of success. So off I headed to the wonderfully named Turnips stall and took my time walking around the displays, slowly taking it all in. And I discovered it’s amazing how much you notice when you slow down. Like these tomatoes, which come in many shapes, flavours, colours and varieties.

Tomatoes of all shapes, sizes, flavours and colours

But I’ve eaten plenty of tomatoes over the years and I wanted to try something new. So I carried on walking until my feet led me to a small display of fruit, many of which I’d never seen before. Like the spiky-looking rambutan, which is similar to a lychee and the diminutive mangosteen, which at £34 a kilo must be one of the most expensive fruits on the planet.

I don’t think those green things on the left are mint

But it was the bright orange of the ‘grandillo’ that caught my eye.

Don’t panic – they’re not actually £300 each

I’d never heard of this fruit and was certain I’d never eaten it before, so now was my chance. (Although at £3 a pop, I could only stretch to buying one of ‘em.) Having no idea what it was, or the best way of eating it, I turned to Google for answers.

Sean Grandillo bears no resemblance to the fruit I’d bought at the market

Sean Grandillo is an American actor – and definitely not the item I’d added to my basket – but somehow he was the first thing to pop up in my search.

A bit more sleuthing and I discovered I’d actually bought a sweet granadilla, which despite its large size and bright orange skin, is very similar to passion fruit.

Sweet granadilla bears no resemblance to the actor Sean Grandillo

The sweet granadilla is deceptive. The size and shape gives the impression that it’s weighty, like an orange or an apple, but it’s surprisingly light. But it was the appearance of the edible seeds inside it that really threw me. Knowing it was similar to passion fruit, I expected them to be bright and yellow. So I was rather put off when I sliced it in half and saw a grey gelatinous goop. I thought I’d picked a bad ‘un, but another search online confirmed that this is what granadillas look like.

When the reality doesn’t live up to the expectation

I usually enjoy passion fruit, especially maracuja – the yellow-skinned variety that’s delicious when made into a juice. The fruit I’d bought did not look appetising. It looked like, dare I say it, snot. But I’d promised to be more adventurous, so I scooped out the seeds and ate them with a bowl of porridge. And they were… sweet. Just as the name promised. But they were also gloopy, slimy and unpleasantly crunchy.

Despite not enjoying granadillas as much as I’d hoped, I was glad I tried them. I had fun walking around the stalls, exploring a much happier variety of fruit and veg than you get in a regular supermarket. I tried something new and learned more about my tastes along the way.

So this time, I invite you to walk down the aisles of your local grocery, supermarket or food market and look for something you’ve never tried before. You don’t have to make an extravagant or expensive choice. In fact, I recommend substituting something you normally buy with another food of a similar price, so you’re not busting your budget with this.

Use your walk as an excuse to slow down and pay attention. If you’re browsing an aisle filled with tins, jars and packets, take a moment to read the packaging. You might find the ingredients enlightening or the serving suggestions and recipes inspiring. If you search the fruit and veg aisle pay attention to the different colours, shapes and textures. Pick things up, feel the weight of them in your hands, explore the textures and the smells. Then choose something you’ve genuinely never eaten before (and that doesn’t contain anything you might be allergic to), and try it.

Hopefully, you’ll have better luck than I did and will find your new favourite food along the way.

Writing

After you’ve sampled your new food, experimented with it in a favourite dish or used it in a new recipe, I invite you to write a review about it.

Imagine you’re a food critic who tried this new delicacy at a restaurant. How many stars would you give it out of five? What was the flavour and texture like? Did it live up to the hype?

This is an exercise to have fun with. So for a bit of irreverent inspiration, have a look at the Amazon reviews for Tuscan Dairy Whole Milk.

One last thing before I sign off so I can figure out how to peel a mangosteen. If you want to show your lunchtime some love then check out The Working Lunch. Every Monday, Susanne Wakefield shares four lunch ideas, including meals you can make ahead, ones you can forget about while they cook as you work, and ones you can rustle up in minutes.

Happy walking and writing until next time,

Sarah

1. The studies I found and linked to here were carried out by, or on behalf of, food brands, which suggests a marketing agenda behind them. And they were done by asking people to self-report on their food habits. Self-reporting studies can be tricky to validate or replicate because they’re open to all kinds of biases. People might underestimate or overestimate their behaviours when self-reporting, they might give the answers they ‘think’ the researchers are looking for, or they might tell outright lies. So while the stats from these types of studies can be interesting, I always take them with – ahem – a pinch of salt.