Super Oriental Market

Visiting a market is an excellent way to get to know another culture. Super Oriental Market in Homewood is a perfect example. They carry just about every kind of product I could have imagined. Their seafood department has many tanks of live fish, eels, and shellfish. They have produce that I haven't seen anywhere else, particularly the infamous durian.

Durian fruit at Super Oriental Market

 Of course, my husband, an avid lover of stinky cheeses, wanted to bring one home. Maybe next time! And not only did they carry durian fruit, they also had durian jam in stock.

Exploring the isles of this market was so interesting! We could have spent hours picking up completely unrecognizable items and trying to decipher their purpose. We quickly began to fill up our basket. One thing we did recognize were products relating to Hot Pot, particularly Hot Pot sauces. Chinese Hot Pot is basically a kind of Asian fondue. Raw meats, vegetables, and dipping sauces are served around a pot of boiling oil or broth. Diners then cook their morsels in it and eat family style.

Hot Pot Sauces

They had a large selection of frozen dumplings and buns. We had never tried steamed buns before so we decided to buy some. They had so many varieties that we couldn't decide! We ended up with pork, spinach, and red bean paste buns and will soon be going back for more!

So delicious, beautifully crafted, and affordable!

The market has a huge variety of noodles, rice, and instant ramen noodle meals. This fact was not surprising as noodles and rice are staples in the Asian diet and ramen noodles are wildly popular, especially among poor college students like me.

Various noodle varieties

Rice!

My husband, Daniel, shopping in the ramen isle. 

They had an area in the back of the market with all the non-food items. It's no wonder that with all those rice varieties they also had so many varieties of rice cookers.

If you don't have one, this is the place to buy a rice cooker!

Another aspect of Asian culture that I love and admire is tea. I was not disappointed with their selection. They had beautiful loose leaf teas. One of my friends travelled to China once and sent me a package of rose tea. I was very happy to find a similar variety here. It was interesting to see that teas are also consumed for their medicinal values. That is something that my culture shares in. We drink a lot of tea in Uruguay. My family usually had a five o'clock tea ritual during which we drank black tea. Any other variety of tea had another purpose, such as to aid in digestion, or relaxation. At this market I found out the extent to which tea is used medically.

Tea to help with hypertension, cholesterol, and diabetes!

When I was strolling through the housewares section I came across something that surprised me, although I'm not sure why.

Asian Sunsilk Shampoo

I remember in Uruguay we had American or English brands that were packaged for Latin America. They would have nutritional or content information written in Spanish and the images would be targeted towards hispanics. Seeing these bottles of Sunsilk shampoo that were marketed for sale to Asians made the world seem so small. I later realized that the steamed buns we had brought home had a big stamp at the bottom saying "Product of U.S.A." It seems miraculous to live in an age when we are so connected to the whole world. I was suddenly so grateful at how easy it has become to be connected to other cultures.
When we first arrived in Alabama in 1996, Birmingham was a much different city. The differences at the supermarket were exciting and foreign to me. Forget the ubiquitous ethnic food isles now prevalent in even Winn-Dixie and Wal-Mart, and the Spanish markets that are popping up all over the city like Starbucks. I yearned for a jar of Dulce de Leche, or my favorite brand of cookies. All these items are so readily available now. It has been wonderful to witness such a positive change in this city, how it has come to embrace its foreign population and cherish cultural heritages.

We then realized our basket was quite full and our stomachs were rumbling loudly. We went home with many new foods to try and some old favorites. We bought canned lychees and mangosteens, an aloe vera dessert, many spices, noodles, rice paper for spring rolls, steamed buns, and a lot of sauces! The most surprising item I've had so far is the most common: soy sauce. We bought a premium dark soy sauce and were so surprised by the taste! My husband exclaimed, "I didn't even know soy sauce could be like this!" It was much thicker and smokier than the kind you'd find at a typical take-out restaurant. I am addicted! It was wonderful on our steamed pork buns that we enjoyed for dinner.

Our haul.

I will definitely be coming back to Super Oriental Market very soon!

Me, in front of the bulletin board outside the market.