Sunday, August 16, 2009

Find of the Week

Last week I had a few idle moments to browse the sauce aisle at Nakumatt; the Kenyan equivalent of Super Target, but not as big. With the influx of business people from China in this country it’s now fairly easy to find all manner of chili oils and fish sauces. Maybe I should take up more Asian cooking...

As I was meandering along a familiar logo caught my eye. Sometimes I am aware that this might just be a knock-off. It seems that all those mayonnaise jars that have the trade name of American Garden (which I have never seen in America) have a reverse side that is all in Arabic. Needless, I stepped closer to check.

Sure enough, it was a real jar of Old El Paso Salsa! I’m not saying that is my favorite brand or anything, but this far from home, it might as well be. Since I was still in a bit of disbelief, I decided to look at the back to make sure it was actually the Old El Paso I know.

My second discovery came in reading the fine print. Did you know that Old El Paso is manufactured in Minneapolis, MN? I had to laugh. It reminded me of an old commercial that had a cowboy with a southern accent incredulously reading a salsa label, “Ne-e-ew Yo-o-ork City!?!” I consoled myself that there were plenty of Mexicans in Minnesota and it’s still a lot closer to Mexico than Kenya or the UAE.

I won’t tell you what I paid for those 16 ounces of bliss. But I did have a fresh batch of homemade tortillas at home, so I didn’t care. Good thing I brought some taco seasoning with me.

2 comments:

Rachel Maves and Family said...

Mmmm. Salsa. A staple in our house. We usually mix it up around here and try all different kinds. I am just glad that you had a kind to chose.

Grace-n-Glory said...

Our garden is FINALLY producing. I made some fresh salsa just yesterday with red and yellow tomatoes, jalapeƱo pepper, and banana pepper all from our garden and with some store bought red onion. My cilantro is in dire straights so sadly I had less than a teaspoon of that to throw in. Still we downed it with relish! =) Tomorrow Guacamole! (grocery shopped today)