The pork room

Yes, this is a post that can be read to grandmothers...

There is an European/North American ex-pat grocery store called Spinney's in Abu Dhabi. Most grocery stores here are a veritable United Nations where the world meets to buys milk, eggs and toilet paper. These fine-food outlets are modern, convenient, reasonably priced and feature amazing prepared-food counters with Filipino delicacies, Arabic shwarmas, homemade Indian fare and the ultimate olive bar. But Spinney's is considered an ex-pat grocery store because it's small and not much use, really, unless you really want certain brands (like Minute Maid orange juice) or certain specialty items (like Pop Tarts).

Or pork.

Spinney's has the bacon. And the Spam. And the sausage. And the proscuitto. It's all located in a back room behind a thin plastic curtain and a large identifying sign above the door: Pork Room. They have pork chops and pork loin. Spirals of kielbasa. Batons of salami. Ham slices for sandwiches. Fried pork rinds (who eats those things, much less imports them?). Cans of pork and beans. Vienna sausages. Lil' smokies. I had no idea there were so many different pork products until I saw them in one place.

I'm not a huge fan of pork, and I actually prefer the beef pepperoni they serve on the pizzas here. But you can't go into the pork room at Spinney's without buying some of the genuine article. K and I got some German salami with peppery edges. We will definitely go back to get bacon (for which there is no adequate substitute).

You need to understand: all these items, which you hardly notice on the shelves of your local Safeway or Trader Joe's simply don't exist here, except in the pork room at Spinney's. In the regular grocery stores, there's beef pepperoni and chicken mortadella. Cubes of ham substitute in the salad bar (in case you wanted a faux chef salad). But no pork. Not ever under any circumstances. It's not that people who don't eat pork simply choose not to purchase it. They choose not to look at it. There is no other white meat. Perhaps they'd prefer if it didnt' exist. And it almost doesn't, except in the pork room.