Adventures in Ethnic Grocery Stores Pt. 1

Tony's (my neighborhood convenience store) was out of limes, and I simply can't drink Tecate without limes. So I went to Fiesta because it's really close to my house and if there's one thing that a grocery store that mainly serves the Hispanic community is going to sell, it's limes.

I usually avoid the shopping area Fiesta is in because every time I'm out there I have Valley flashbacks of bad drivers from Mexico. Driving in Mexico is wayy different from driving in the US so consequently driving in the Valley is way different from driving in the US. In fact, when I go back home and I'm running an errand I find myself being a good, cautious driver then I remember that I'm in McAllen, and anything goes.

Another reason why I avoid Fiesta, and stores like it, is that it reminds me of being in Globe or M. Rivas, and all three stores smell like freshly-cut cow. When I was little I couldn't figure out why everyone called it 'eme' Rivas- all the signs said M. Rivas. It wasn't until I learned the Spanish alphabet in high school that I made the connection. H-E-B has since run M. Rivas out of business, but Globe is still around, despite being across the street from an H-E-B. I think it's because it's because of the bus stop that picks up and drops off the Mexicans that cross every day to work in McAllen.

Which leads me to believe that stores like Fiesta, Sack-N-Save and Globe only appeal to immigrants and first-generation Hispanics. If it were true that all Hispanics only liked to shop in stores that resemble stores in Mexico, H-E-B wouldn't be so popular in the Valley, Austin and San Antonio. Or pretty much anywhere where an H-E-B is. I think stores like Fiesta are so big in Dallas is because a majority of the Hispanics here immigrant and first generation. I know people in the Valley who can't even trace their family back to Mexico because their families have been living in Edinburg for so long. And all these people love H-E-B.

Anyway, I was pricing the produce when it came to me- dude, they must sell tamarindo here. When my dad and I would go to H-E-B after school I always used to take one from the produce bin and eat it in the store. After I didn't find it next to the hikama I began to get a little worried. But I did eventually find it- in individually wrapped quarter and half-pound bunches. And the bundles nearest to the ground, the ones most easily accessible to children, had little holes in the plastic where little fingers could take one out and eat it while their parents grocery shopped.
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Note: It occurred to me after I wrote this that not everyone who reads this may know what tamarindo is. Most Mexican candy (the good kind anyway) is tamarindo based. It's sweet but mostly sour, but not in the way a lemon is.