Grocery shopping

As many people who have met me more than once know, food is a very important part of my life. I think and talk about it alot. Now that we're in Santo Domingo, I've been challenged to find organic produce, Oriental spices, or even tortilla bread that is not loaded with extra ingredients (it only takes maiz, lime, and water so the extra BHT, color, and other junk is difficult for me to accept). I know that my lifestyle and career choice requires flexibility on my part and theoretically I was prepared to eat flexibly, however it has been really difficult for me to completely adapt to my environment and until I move faraway to a place that doesn't have the same mail service available to me now, I don't think I will change my eating habits much.

I have given up on finding organic produce and am okay with that because the organic produce that I have found always looks like it should have been thrown in the trash weeks ago and costs a ton of money.

I found two places that sell mock "meat" - a Taiwanese restaurant that sells uncooked food like the stuff I bought at Glut back home and a little vitamin/"health" food shop around the corner from my job.

My mom and sister are willing to shop for me sometimes if I send $$ so I've gotten restocked on sunflower seed butter and nut butters and sea vegetables.

I take advantage of every training opportunity stateside to stock up on stuff like vegan cream, nuts, snacks for the kids, unbleached, unbromated flour, and figs.

And I've found new joy in online shopping - although sometimes the shipping costs make me cringe. I'm able to purchase about 80% of want I need without completely breaking the bank from:

Luckyvitamin.com - homeopathic medicine, nutritional yeast, liquid amino acids, coconut oil

nutsonline.com - spices, cashews, walnuts, almonds, brazil nuts, sesame seeds, flax seeds

We shop for legumes, popcorn, and polenta at the market and get brown rice, veggies, fruit, and oatmeal from the grocery store or from random children riding horses pulling big wagons full of mangos, pineapples, and plantains.

Why don't we shop at the market mostly? Because the prices at the neighborhood Super Target-like grocery store are at least 35% cheaper on Tuesdays.

I would still like to find tortilla chips not cooked with vegetable oil, clif z-bars, coconut oil and pasta mixes for N. David who is not interested in eating like the rest of us.