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Tuesday, October 13, 2009
And on the topic of food…

It’s been a trend that i’ve been noticing at the Asian supermarket chains. It’s troubling me somewhat that it is a repro-able process.

  1. One discovers an Asian seasoning, mix, canned food, or whatever
  2. One enjoys the authentic taste that it brings
  3. One starts to buy it on a regular basis
  4. One starts to buy MORE on a regular basis
  5. One starts to notice the stock is getting lesser
  6. One starts to buy the remaining stock
  7. One finds that it is no longer being sold

Going through some of the archives on this blog, i can easily find at least four instances. The Thai dried cuttlefish was the first.

Then after the food scare from China went the black bean fish, which looks like this small little picture that i was able to find:

cannedfish 

Then it was Brahim’s Beef rendang paste. Luckily, it came back… and i bought a full dozen of it!

Then it was an Indonesian Sambal Belachan chilly.

Most recently, and in the prior post, the Prima Taste range of mixes, from Singapore curry to Laksa… the only one that was usually left on the shelves is the Satay mix. Probably the “local” Singaporeans all know it’s impossible to do satay right with the meat we can find here.

Turns out that at the most recent attempt to get the curry paste, i found about 8 cans of the belachan chilly, and i swept all into our shopping cart. It’ll probably be gone and no longer replenished the next time we go there.

Interestingly, Sharon’s fave Nescafe 3-in-1 coffee mix, the one particular SKU she likes, isn’t available here. Guess what i have to fill in my luggage whenever i fly back to Singapore? 8)

At the rate it’s going, pretty soon we’ll run out of any close resemblance of the food we used to have in the island country. Then we’ll really start to live like a local!

 
posted by Jonathan at 7:48 PM | Permalink |


3 Comments:


At 8:56 AM, Blogger Bee N Chee

Hi Jonathan, where did you get the prima taste mixes? I've been searching high and low for them in all the I.D. asian markets and Ranch99. No luck. Please please pleeeeaaaaaaseeeee tell! :)

I will keep a lookout for Nescafe 3-in-1 mix for you. *wink*

 

At 9:16 AM, Blogger Jonathan

Hi there,

I ordered them from http://www.primataste.com.sg/home/home.asp

As mentioned in an earlier post, it turned out to be just less than a dollar more per box for the whole package.

One thing for sure though, it's definitely not available at Ranch99 stores around here, though at least, the shelf space is still there... with an empty section 8(.

If it's Uwajimaya, that space will probably be replaced with other generic Asian food.

Ever seen an imported Indian version of the japanese interpretation of the chinese fried rice? Amazing...

 

At 8:08 AM, Blogger Bee N Chee

sigh, looks like I'll have to order from their web. I was hoping to find in the local stores here.

At least you have seen it in your Uwajimaya store. I have never come across it in the I.D. branch.

Imported Indian version? That's so funny. Nope, haven't seen that too.

Have a great weekend!