Last week, I decided to get some vegetables at the local duka (roadside stand). My list included: tomatoes, carrots, onions, peppers and bananas.
I usually visit a more Western-style store, called Mbezi Fresh, for my produce even though shopping at the duka is quite a bit cheaper. This, my favorite grocery store in Dar, was new at the end of the last school year. It appeals to me because it has a wide variety of choices, contains produce and dry goods in one spot (almost unheard-of here), requires less need for Swahili and, because the store is completely inside and in a more climate-controlled environment, I do find the quality better and that the veggies last longer in the fridge (longer=days instead of hours).
It is funny to me how much I love Mbezi Fresh because it's still a Tanzanian store with assorted challenges. By U.S. standards, it is tiny (NJ friends, it's probably half the size of Food Basics, if even). The power frequently goes out, which means that the clerks sometimes end up writing receipts by hand (which takes forever). Certain items stop selling at random, then re-appear. I have tried to train my children not to become dependent on a specific brand of anything! A lot of the time, they don't have proper change. The baggers are never sure what to do with the fact that I bring my own cloth bags. Nonetheless, I love Mbezi Fresh.
But Mbezi isn't super close to our house and requires a certain level of fearlessness in its small and chaotic parking lot (particularly in the rain), so I decided to stay local on that day. From past experience, I knew that it was unlikely that one spot would have everything on my list, but I also knew that there were 3 vegetable stands on my chosen path.
Duka #1: Hamna shida (no problems) on the tomatoes, and it was a good price. I'm never sure exactly what the cost per pound or kilogram is at the duka, because they sell them in a "sado" (which is a small, white plastic bucket that used to contain Sadolin paint...I'm choosing not to dwell on this possibility of lead poisoning for too long). I would estimate that it's around 5 pounds or so, for about $4 U.S. Depending on your shopkeeper and how friendly they are, they generally make the Sado overflowing (and they are usually pretty scrupulous about sorting through and giving you only good tomatoes). All tomatoes here are "Roma" and one of the best parts about living here are their year-round availability.
I was happy with my tomato purchase - first try! - but unfortunately, there were no carrots, onions, peppers or bananas at this duka.
Duka #2: The pepper and carrot situation was bleak at this location, and although I would have liked to purchase more, I only managed to get 2 carrots and 4 peppers. Unfortunately, the price for the carrots was significantly higher than usual. Generally it is around 250-300 shillings per carrot. That day, it was 500 shillings...and these carrots were not particularly large. I tried to negotiate in Swahili, expressing outrage over the price and asking why it was so high. His matter-of-fact response: Bei panda. Prices climbed.
To keep things in perspective, a 500 shilling carrot is only around 25 cents at the current exchange rate, and the difference between 250 and 500 shillings is less than 15 cents. We're not talking break-the-bank levels. However, the issue is not the price itself, but I absolutely hate feeling like I'm being taken advantage of. Have prices, in fact, climbed, or does he see a white person and assume that I can pay? That's another point in Mbezi Fresh's favor: the price is the price, foreigners or Tanzanians.
Although I probably should have just walked away, I am still set in my Western ways where efficiency is king, I needed the carrots and he knew it. I sucked it up and paid the 1000 shillings. I will add that the carrots here are really good and fresh. I do miss pre-peeled, pre-cut "baby" carrots because it's a lot more work to peel and chop your own, but they are light years tastier here.
The other reason I decided to buy them is because I've learned an important lesson here: if you see it and you need it, BUY IT. It's never going to get cheaper or easier than right then and I have never regretted this philosophy, despite being a less-decisive shopper in the West.
Unfortunately, Duka #2 didn't have bananas or onions.
Duka #3: had apparently not received a lot of inventory since my last trek to this area. There were a couple of extremely over-ripe bananas hanging on a string and some rotting tomatoes. Even from the street, I could tell this was not going to happen, and I didn't even stop.
Final result: 60% of the items on my list and feeling ripped off. Back to Mbezi Fresh!!
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