Thursday, June 4, 2009

Yup, I'm Still a Foreigner...

When you move to another country, you embark on a journey of discovery. Some discoveries are enlightening; others are perplexing.

If you keep an open mind, there are many things that will lead to an "Aha! That makes sense! In fact, I wish everyone in my home country did things this way!" On the flip side, there are many things that will lead to an "I can't figure this out for the life of me!"

One of the things I can't figure out here in South Africa is: When you go to the grocery store, why are all the cucumbers individually shrink-wrapped in plastic? How come none of the other fruit is? I don't get it...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

english cucumbers are individually wrapped here also. not sure why.

Unknown said...

Hmm, I've never thought about why we do that. Maybe to make it easier to wrap and store in the fridge if you only eat half of it?

Oh, how I miss individually wrapped cucumbers now...

Anna said...

Hmm... you may be right.

I miss sweet onions.

:o) Rachel said...

Yes, English cucumbers are like that here, too. You don't have to peel them because their peels aren't bitter like other cucumbers. But I don't know why, either...

:o) Rachel said...

OK, I did a search and I found: "Shrink-wrapping will minimize moisture loss and extend shelf life by several days." So fruits and veggies w/o a peel are either waxed (like apples and regular cukes) or are wrapped... I forgot that I had seen broccoli wrapped before, too.

Anna said...

Mystery solved! Thanks, Rachel and Rian!

Anonymous said...

Rian's reply is the reason! :)