Confounded by choice

In the Soviet-era malls, customers regularly had to queue up for whatever scrap of food was on offer that day. Usually the range of products available was ubelieveably limited, too. Six hours in line for a sausage or two. It was that bad, according to contemporary eyewitnesses.

In Norway, on the other hand, grocery stores (we had no malls in the 70s) would seldom run out of e.g. dairy products. We could always rely on a steady provision of milk on our table, albeit the State in its infinite wisdom would not allow for more than one producer of this most sought after beverage: the Farmers Union's cooperatively owned and run dairy industry.

HEY, HERE'S A SECOND ONE!

Thirty years on and much has changed. Today several large food chains compete for our attention and our appetites, ensuring low food prices for middle-income consumers, such as myself. And would you believe it? The number of dairy producers has doubled since the 70s. We now have a staggering two - 2 - different trademarks to choose from in the way of milk, sour cream etc. No wonder Norwegian housewives - there aren't many left - incessantly complain of headaches. It strains your brain having to decide between TINE (one trademark) and Q (second trademark) every day, doesn't it?

With this in mind, it's probably easy to understand the state of relative shock caused by our close encounters with US grocery stores and their confusingly large selections of virtually any edible thing.

DOING THINGS THE SAFEWAY

Our first shopping experience happened on day two of our Seattle stay. My brother-in-law and I arrived at the local Safeway store on foot, our systems having burned a lot of fat during our - by American standards - long (15 minutes) walk, navigating the scanty, narrow sidewalk lining the road. Our mode of transportation took us through what must have been one of Seattle's less affluent areas. Houses were generally in varying degrees of dilapidation, and with trees in much too great supply, effectively blocking out most of the sunlight, there was little inspiration to be had from the imminent surroundings.

On arrival, we found the Safeway store's unassuming exterior totally belying its interior gastronomic treasure trove. Stepping into this consumer's sanctuary, our senses were almost instantaneously assaulted by both the variety of foods on display, as well as by quantities they came in. Our disbelieving half-smirks froze on our faces as we were struggling to decide on which brand of milk to go for. Peanut butter? We gave up on that fairly quickly. Twenty-five brands to choose from. We couldn't have stayed all day, could we?

ONE ILLUSION LOST, TEN TO GO....

Safeway thus was both fun as well as confounding. In short, this initial grocery shopping experience dealt the final and most damaging blow to my long held perception about the quality of Norwegian food stores in general. Being a native of one of the richest countries of the world, I used to take it for granted that our growing national economic prowess of necessity would reflect in an ever widening selection of goods in our stores, and particularly in our grocery stores.

Then came Vienna and the BILLA food store in 2007. And then came Riga with its RIMI outlet this past May. And, finally, Seattle. In the end it didn't take long before I concluded that I really had to reevaluate certain aspects of life in my native country. Our food stores aren't that great after all. In essence, they amount to little more than Soviet malls compared to the megasized US counterparts.

But my pride isn't hurt one bit. After all, it's a blessing, isn't it, that Norway these days has two different key players in the dairy business. It used to only one, remember?