Shopping
Shopping.
You go to a shop, you buy what you need, you go home.
Simple, right?
Not on Gomera.
It’s taken me the best part of a year to figure out where to buy things from. I’m vegetarian; and attempting to find vegetarian food is a constantly evolving challenge. I know that the things I want exist, and I know some people manage to buy them, but it turns out that over here, it’s definitely a case of ‘who you know’ and not what shops you go to.
(Not to mention the joys of translation absolute fails - sometimes it takes a minute to realise what you’re buying…)
I found an online supermarket which sold vegan food to the Canaries. Success! I was so, so excited. Rose and I spent HOURS poring over our order, visions of the gourmet dishes we’d cook dancing in our heads while we salivated over fake mince.
Hearts full and wallets stretched to breaking point, I clicked ‘order’ – only to get a message saying, “Thanks for trying to order! Often we don’t have what we’ve advertised. We’ll get back to you when we know what we can deliver.”
Slightly unusual, but ok.
Three days later, and I get a WhatsApp from the supermarket.
“Hi! We can’t deliver ice-cream to Gomera. But we’ve got most of the rest of what you want!”
Obviously the lack of vegan Ben + Jerry’s was marginally traumatic but hey, we had enough other things coming so we could cope. Why can’t they deliver ice-cream here? Honestly, by this point I wasn’t even going to bother asking that question.
2 days later, and Rose and Brian are in San Sebastian picking up some things from the local delivery company, and ask if there’s a package for me. THERE IS! 2 days – some kind of record.
The delivery company bring out a couple of bags. One of them is great, full to the brim with cupboard-stock type things.
The other has all the frozen and refrigerated goodies. Defrosted. Soaking wet. And very obviously not cold.
I WhatsApp the supermarket, asking why they’ve sent a bag full of frozen food not frozen.
“Sorry, I’m sick, I’ll get back to you soon.”
4 days later, and I have a message saying, “Well they were defrosted because they weren’t transported cold.”
“Is it possible to send them again, but this time keep them cold…?”
“Oh. Oh we can try, yes.”
I still find it hard to believe that I was the first person in Gomera to have ever ordered from them, but by this point I was losing all hope that I was EVER going to experience the delights of Moving Mountains Sausages.
A few days later and I’m sitting having a coffee in Chiko’s, the café at the bottom of the steps, and a delivery van pulls up.
“Felicity? You live in La Banda, right?”
“Yep…”
“We’ve got your food for you. Frozen. Here you go.”
Lo and behold, a box stuffed full of all the food I could hope for. Still frozen! (Even the stuff that should only have been refrigerated, but the phrase “beggars can’t be choosers” came to mind.
I thanked the driver profusely and skipped home (walked slowly up the steps with a heavy package, cursing all the way) clutching my goodies. Which included ice-cream.
Since those heady days, I’ve also learnt where else I can buy the more unusual things I like:
Coconut flour – The Pharmacy
Bulgur wheat/vegan cheese/lentil pasta – The Photo Shop (why not get your passport photos done at the same time?)
Beyond Meat burgers – 1.5-hour round trip to buy them in bulk from a man with a café in the north of the island
Parsnips – still struggling. But I think I’ve found a guy in Tenerife – watch this space…
Papayas – back of a van that’s often parked outside the bakery
Inspirational bread bins - hardware store
Cheddar cheese – Tenerife. I’d be lying if I said I’d never done a trip there just for this
Lemongrass – spice shop in Fuerteventura who’ll deliver on occasion
Salad cream - ordered in specially by Brian from a supermarket up the road
What’s amazing is how quickly it’s become absolutely normal to be doing this. I no longer bat an eyelid at visiting 8 different shops and the back of a truck to get what I need for dinner. That means I’m becoming Gomeran, right?
All donations go to the Great Parsnip Hunt of 2021