CORNUCOPIA
Local grocers may be small but they’re packed with essentials
The humble grocer shop is not only stacked with essentials; it can also offer a fascinating insight insight into local cultures.
While I have written many times about fresh markets in various regions, it should not be forgotten that the humble grocery store can also play an invaluable role in home cooking. Most grocers tend to be pretty small. However, the merchandise they carry can tell us a lot about the local society, the social status of its customers, even their ideology, way of life, and cooking patterns.
Let’s see some examples of grocers in different areas. What kind of stuff do they carry? What does that tell us? Are they expensive, or reasonably priced? What’s the quality like?
In the old town of Bangkok, namely in Chinatown, the most outstanding market area is definitely the one in Soi Itsara Nuphap, a street that connects Yaowarat and Charoenkrung roads. People usually refer to the area as Talad Laeng Bua Yai after the name of the shrine there. This market is the mecca for all Chinese food and ingredients. There you can find shops selling fresh food and various useful items you may need.
Some Chinese delicacies available in Talad Laeng Bua Yai are pickled greens (which makes a great side dish for boiled rice), crispy pork, roast duck and pork, five-spice duck, boiled chicken, steamed Chinese mullet, the famous kui chai
(steamed Chinese chives dumplings) and more from the Talad Plu area, plus vegetarian food stalls selling delicious slowcooked dishes. Or if you’re a meat-eater, you can also sit in a small restaurant and order Hong Kong-style noodles with barbecue pork and wonton soup.
Grocers in this market have seemingly everything you need for your kitchen. You can find the rare Chinese fish chao hue,
sea cucumbers, Chinese-imported dried preserved bamboo shoots, dried lotus seeds, peppercorns, Thai and Chinese spices, dried bamboo leaves for wrapping the batsang (savoury steamed sticky rice with assorted fillings) and many more. Some items sold here cannot be found elsewhere in Thailand.
For shoppers, strolling around in the narrow and crowded alley may not be very convenient. Why would peddlers line their goods on the pavement, making the already-cramped passage even worse? Well, the Chinese business philosophy says that, the closer the customers are to the shop, the easier it is for their money to flow right in.
More notable Chinese-style grocers can be found in Talad Sam Yan, located right in the heart of the residential and business area of the wealthy Chinese-Thai community in Bangkok.
In Talad Sam Yan you’ll find specially selected fresh seafood and meat, cold-climate vegetables, basic vegetables usually found on the Chinese table, various kinds of noodles, and much more.
Ready-to-eat dishes are aplenty, ranging from khanom pakkad (fried radish cake), khanom kui chai (Chinese chives dumplings), khanom tuay nakati (sweet pandan dessert topped with coconut milk curd), and so on.
There are many groceries selling Chinese-imported ingredients. Secret ingredients to Chinese cooks’ marvellous soup (dried scallop called kang puay and dried halibut called tibo)
are sold here.
Notable items are the soy sauce, tao jeaw (bean paste) and oyster sauce made by small-scale and long-established factories. Their production is limited so you won’t find them in regular supermarkets. Some of the most cherished brands are Nok Krarien (crane), Ruabai (Chinese sailboat), and Mangpo (dragonfly). For generations, these brands have been kitchen staples of the Chinese in Thailand.
Markets and grocers in the Chinese areas of Bangkok differ from what you would find in the suburbs.
Characteristics of grocers largely depend on the social environment they serve.
Markets located in industrial areas such as Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Samut Prakan and Samut Sakhon usually carry more freshwater fish than products from the sea.
Also, you’ll see a lot of local vegetables, and there are great selections of ready-to-eat foods, especially northeastern delicacies.
Grocers usually carry basics such as rice, instant noodles, sugar, fish sauce and soy sauce at lower prices than modern supermarkets. Things considered exotic to Thais, such as dried pasta, pancake mix or ketchup, are very unlikely to be available.
What’s fascinating about upcountry groceries and markets is that there are things you won’t be able to find in Bangkok, for example, freshwater fish like tire trace eel, spiny eel, sheatfish and climbing perch.
The most basic kinds are dried and fresh snakehead fish, Asian redtail catfish and Siamese mud carp. Some are smoked until nice and crispy. Mud carp makes the best fish sauce. Pla ra (a type of fermented fish condiment native to the northeastern region) made from snakehead or catfish is abundant.
Grocers also carry non-food items essential to the way of life of the people in that area. There are kradong (woven bamboo tray) for drying fish and vegetables, moong (a tentlike mosquito net), alum, red lime for soaking vegetables and fruits in (to make them crisp), wood charcoal, charcoal stoves and clay mortars.
Groceries found in Ratchaburi and Nakhon Pathom are similar to what you would find anywhere in the Central Plains region. There, you might also find large kitchen utensils such as steamers, big woks or aluminum ice buckets. If lucky, you might come across the classic, beautiful enamel wares.
That’s all about grocers in general. Some other grocers double as specialty stores, such as the ones in Phahurat (the so-called Little India of Bangkok). Head there if you want to buy spices for Indian dishes. You may find saffron (not a decent one, but OK to use), ghee (clarified butter regularly used in Indian kitchen) and a large variety of nuts.
Meanwhile, grocers located in the Phra Khanong area of Bangkok and Om Noi in Samut Sakhon are known to be hubs for all things Burmese.
Grocers, therefore, have their own vibrant stories to tell. They definitely play a significant role in most households’ cooking, and in restaurant businesses.