Pop Culture Cuisine

We are down to the wire as far as when this baby could arrive, 2 1/2 weeks to be exact; and while we are super excited, we are also a little nervous as far as what to expect bringing a new little one into our brood.  One thing you quickly realize is how drastically your life is about to change and how this little human will not only depend on you for everything, but they aren’t like a house guest who just comes and stays for the weekend.  So…you start to think about a lot of things. Like, although she isn’t going to be eating “real” food for quite some time, it does make you begin to really consider what types of food choices you will be making to feed your family. In particular, how will our grocery shopping change?

We live in a day and age where it isn’t as simple as just going to the corner store anymore.  Now there are choices from what types of food to buy to where it comes from, and even the type of store you would like to purchase it from.  Now I am all for healthy eating and I truly do try to feed Adam and me as healthily as possible, with limited amounts of processed food coming into our house. But it has become increasingly clear in the past 10 years that even WHERE you buy your groceries is a “BIG DEAL” to some people.  With bigger all natural food markets on the scene, it has even become quite political.

But I’m not here to get into all of that.  Instead I want to focus on the uniqueness of these newer age markets and how they offer unusual and hard to find products; and as you’re reading this, stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joes are already popping into your mind….right? However, there is a grocery store near Cincinnati, OH that puts them all to shame…Jungle Jim’s International Market

Started in 1974 as a small food stand, Jungle Jim’s has since grown to over 6 1/2 acres, 300,000-square-foot food tourist destination, offering 150,000 different items from over 75 countries from around the world.  And we ain’t just talking about only organic, or international foods…or any one particular specialty. Nope…., rather it is anything and everything you can possibly think of with every country having its own section of the store, with a produce section that is as large as some grocery stores themselves, and everything in between.

Although we weren’t sure if we could enjoy a meal there or not, we figured as foodies we needed to experience just the shock and awe of walking around a store that large with that many products…, an amusement park of groceries of sorts.  We’d seen it on a few television shows, most notably Food Network’s “Unwrapped” and Travel Channel’s “Top Ten Public Restrooms,” but it was even more awe inspiring than we thought; and what was even more shocking was it appeared that many seem to do their regular weekly shopping there. I’m still not sure I would want to take on having to walk that much in search of my items weekly, but for unusual ingredients or fun items, this certainly would be the store to seek them out at.  Not only will you experience every food imaginable, they may even have a few surprises around the store…including the crazy bathrooms (which are meant to be deceiving!)…

Pretty crazy huge huh?  Like I said, I can’t imagine ever “running to the store” and THAT BEING THE STORE!!! But if you needed everything under the sun or some really random ingredients, Jim’s would for sure be the place to go.

We were a little disappointed that besides a sandwich shop, they don’t have any other spots to get food. Still, we did enjoy our time walking around and taking in all the unique sights of this grocery store; so although it is a bit outside of Cincinnati, I would say if you are looking for something to do or kill some time when you are in the area, a visit to Jungle Jim’s would be a definite must…, heck, just for the shear SIZE of it!

SIGNATURE DISH: For this excursion that would be hard to say, because they aren’t really known for a dish, but rather ingredients; and although they aren’t dishing out food to eat per se, as a Foodie, I’d say their signature is that they have about EVERY signature thing you could ever want!

TASTE: Again, hard to qualify, because although we sampled a few things here and there around the store, they aren’t really serving up food; and unlike some grocery stores, they don’t have a place to really get a meal outside of the small sandwich shop that is attached.  They really are just specializing in the ingredients.

AMBIANCE: This is for sure the stand out category in the case of Jungle Jim’s. It’s truly another world EXPERIENCE!  I mean…how many grocery stores have you been to where there are animatronic food, cans, etc. throughout the store, a real full-size bathroom that appears to be a porta potty, and every food ingredient and type of food you could possible think of?  It takes quite awhile just to walk around and take it all in. 6 1/2 acres ain’t no joke!

PRICE: Because we chose not to buy anything, it’s hard to say how their prices compared. But, the prices didn’t look half bad as we were walking around.  Truthfully, it would be hard to know unless you were shopping there on a regular basis.

SERVICE: With a store this large, they have 300 or more employees and they seemed extremely attentive and well versed in all of the products that we carry.  We were able to ask a few employees some very specific questions and they could point or lead us in the right direction, even though we still managed to get lost!

As typically happens when going to stores like this, I was super jealous Jim’s is available in that area and that we have nothing even close to us like this; and while I likely wouldn’t shop their super often, I was so in awe of the shear size of this place, I think it would be fun to frequent.  Jungle Jim’s International Market is truly a “must see to believe” type of experience, so if you are ever passing through the Cincinnati area, the Jungle Jim’s Safari awaits! Perhaps you’ll even see a few ‘Little Piggies’…4 of them.