Where we live in Barcelona, we have two large supermarkets within east walking distance. We only use them for non-food supplies and occasionally for spices. They have everything, but I prefer to walk 100 meters to the local bakery (it’s been there since 1798) to get a baguette every morning and other freshly-baked bread when we are in the mood.
There is a huge neighborhood farmers’ market consisting of stalls (manned mainly by non-farmers), Santa Caterina, that is maybe 300 meters away from our apartment. We have a stall we like where we buy poultry and eggs, another one where we buy bacon, another one where we buy cheese and olive oil, and two where we buy fresh fish. Right next to that market is one of the two large supermarkets; in fact, there are interior doors between them, so you theoretically can do all of your shopping there.
We don’t. We prefer the bread at the bakery and the pastries at the patisserie a half block from the bakery. It’s a relative newcomer, having opened in 1804.
There is very good fruit and vegetables in the stalls at Santa Caterina and sometimes Masha buys exotic and hard to find things there, but I happened upon the best fruit and vegetable store I have found in my life two months ago about 800 meters ftom the apartment. It is near a hardware store I really like and since I was a kid, I always have spent time just browsing through hardware stores, so I buy all of the other fruits and vegetables there after visiting the hardware store. We buy beef from a Halal butcher who saves small — but good for chewing — bones for Masha’s dog, who he adores. It reminds me of growing up, before Pittsburgh had Giant Eagle, when the local Kosher butcher used to save bones for Duke, our Boxer.
It’s just a question of “horses for courses” but I don’t missing driving to Ralph’s and buying everything in one place like I did in California at all. We don’t have a candlestick maker, but the butcher and baker know both Masha and I by name.
