The price is right

As a student of limited financial means, food suddenly becomes an obsession of sorts.

Especially in Oslo.

It is notoriously expensive to eat out in Oslo- Open any travel guide on Norway and you will see this fact grimly waved at your face. For instance, a value meal on promotion at Mcdonald's (without fries) cost about 45 kroners that's about SGD $11. Lunch at the school canteen is about 40 kroners, that's about SGD $10.

So, out of sheer necessity, Jose K and I have embarked into the hitherto little- explored world of grocery shopping and home-cooking. It is an on-going challenge coming up with variations of pasta/sandwiches/hotdogs/rice.

Thankfully, there are 3 supermarkets near our place. Rimi is the all round best value and where we usually shop. Rema 1000 which is conveniently located at our student village wins for best alcohol selection- pear cider is yummy at $5 a can and frozen pizza. Very student friendly as you can tell.

But the focus of this particular entry is about the Norwegian phenomenon of the "ethnic grocer". (yes, this is really a term that they use here) These grocers sell fresh fruit and vegetables usually at a cheaper price than the Norwegian supermarkets and they have a better selection as well. This is also the place to look for your sun-dried tomatoes, dhal, rice, fish sauce, sambal, canned rambutans with pineapple etc that you will NOT be able to find in the regular stores. They are usually run by Vietnamese or Middle Eastern people and no matter what ethnic group they come from, the sign outside the shop will always read "Frukt og grønnsaker"- Fruit and vegetables. Strangely, we have yet to locate Chinese grocers.... they must be hiding the tofu some place really good, dang!

Today was a Sunday and consequently ALL the supermarkets were closed. But as we needed some curry power to cook the dhal that we bought from the Vietnamese grocer the other day(yes, I know this is slightly confusing), Jose K and I went down to the "ethnic grocer" at Storgata near the town centre. I just found out today that it is run by Kurds. This illuminating moment of revelation came in the form of a Norwegian-Kurdish dictionary prominently displayed beside the cashier.

We bought Madras hot curry powder and Turkish bread and this is the result. Dhal with lamb, courtesy of Rajah's spices and pseudo 'naan': It was a little piece of home.