"As an American, the way I shopped for groceries always made me feel like I was stockpiling for a global emergency. My cart would be filled with things like massive bags of frozen vegetable mixes that tasted like freezer burn, fruits that hadn't been in season in months yet were somehow in stock, and several packages of cookies that felt like too good a deal to pass up."
"Once I moved to Thailand in 2018, though, I was open to a new kind of grocery shopping. This time, I got my food in open-air markets that let me interact directly with the farmers who grew it. There, I'd choose from fresh piles of in-season produce, like bright-red, juicy tomatoes, and fragrant greens bundled in bunches and tied with dried raffia."
I previously shopped in the US at warehouse stores, buying bulk prepackaged and frozen items, out-of-season fruit, and discounted snacks. Moving to Thailand in 2018 introduced open-air markets where I interacted directly with farmers and selected fresh, seasonal produce and visibly butchered meat. Travel through countries like Cambodia, Myanmar, Rwanda, and Turkey reinforced similar market experiences. The change in shopping frequency and food quality began altering my relationship with food. Health motivated the move: at 40 I was about 100 pounds overweight, struggled with anxiety, sleep, and fibroids, and had repeatedly failed multiple diets while gaining weight back under stress.
Read at Business Insider
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