nothing at all rural where i live and i can get anything at anytime -- surrounded by large chain markets, independent markets, ethnic markets - as many as i want in any direction that i travel. got some goat last year - interesting taste. not sure i want to do that again, but i did find some other interesting items in the store, so it wasn't a complete bust.

maryanne

There isn't much I can't buy around here. In fact if I don't want to buy it at the grocery store I can pick up lamb and duck from a couple of local farms. Cowichan Valley Lamb is amazing. Veal is available in a couple of grocery stores as well as at my favourite butcher. He almost always has veal tenderloin too which is a favourite of mine. And all of his meats are raised on his own farm.

And most of our grocery stores have decent bread and I have a Artisan bakery too in the area I can stop at if I run out of homemade.

Ann

You couldn't get lamb here until the last few years. It's still only sold in the large stores. My neighbor owns a second generation meat market, one of the last of the Mohicans around here and he doesn't sell lamb either. Finding veal is even harder.
James

I can get all three of those things here, LindaC. Elery loves lamb, so I'm putting my roaster outside on the deck and cooking some on Sunday, I don't even want to smell it! The local grocery has semi-boneless leg of lamb for $4.99. They buy two lambs every year from the local 4H kids at the county fair and they very seldom sell them, even at $4.99 a pound, LOL. They're holding a 5 lb. leg for me, what the heck I'll do with the rest of it I doh't know. Well, yes, I do, I'm sending ALL the leftovers home with Elery, not one person in my whole family will eat the stuff.

Veal? Not a snowball's chance in h*ll I'm eating that, but I can get it at the local grocery if I want some. It's another thing no self-respecting farmer would eat, LOL, they all say "wait a couple of months and it'll weigh 100 pounds more". LOL Plus, today's veal has nothing to do with age or size, a veal "calf" can weigh up to 800 lbs. as long as it's fed the required diet, an extremely unhealthy practice IMO, but it's a personal peeve so, whatever.

Bread is best at the bakery, we have one old fashioned bakery here in town, but I always make my own.

So yes, I can get all three of those things, easily and immediately, in Smalltown Northern Michigan, aka White Cloud!

Annie

There are plenty of meat markets around here, including Kosher and Halal. The Lebanese market always has lamb, but I never buy it because DB doesn't eat red meat or pork. I sometimes go to a meat market in Culver City to get fresh turkey, and they also have pheasant, which I find a bit dry. I haven't seen chicken feet in the markets I go to, but I imagine if I looked for them, I could find them - possibly at Central Market downtown - the largest Mexican market here.

Good pumpernickel is still hard to find - I would have to go to the South Bay for that, but instead I make it myself. I have some cooling on the counter right now. It's one of my favorite breads and easy to make, and so I'm not that concerned about finding it in a bakery. The Belgian bakery in Santa Monica that I used to go to is no longer there, but Röckenwagner's aka Three Squares has moved from Santa Monica to down the street from me, and they have an Austrian bakery that I will be going to in the future - but only early in the day, since they sell out fairly early.

For convenience, I think San Francisco and Vancouver (plus Manhattan) are better than L.A., but if I'm willing to travel up to half an hour to get something, I can find all the variety I want. I'm very happy with the fish markets here, and that's my main concern. Plus I can get good sashimi at the Japanese market ten minutes from my house.

Lars

Can't get it at the grocery store that is just 2 miles away, but can get it all at the store that is 10 miles in the other direction....if I wanted it. Not my favorite meats or bread.

Nancy

I feel your pain. Even though you understand the economics of it for a small-town merchant, it's a bummer. But what's *really* frustrating is to live in a large city like I do and still have a pitifully limited selection! For years, I'd read about stuff like plugra, chipotles, goat cheese...but they were nowhere to be found. Heck, I was lucky to find Italian parsley in the produce section once every 3 or 4 weeks. Then there were the personnel problems. On the off-chance you could actually find a stockboy when needed, he'd turn out to be a clueless idiot. ("Umm, anchovy paste. Is that similar to tomato paste? That's on Aisle 5.") The store managers constantly 'rearranged' things, apparently thinking a scavenger hunt theme would add to my shopping pleasure. And did I really need to listen to the cashier in my lane b*tchin' to the cashier in the next about her hours/her pay/her boyfriend??

It had gotten to the point where just thinking about going to the grocery store put me in a bad mood. But then a minor miracle happened: Fresh Market came to town. Key limes. San Marzano tomatoes. Five or six different brands of seriously-aged balsamic vinegar. Prime beef. Fresh seafood. Apple-smoked bacon. Oh. My. Gosh.

Stockboys? They're everywhere! They're knowledgeable and well-trained. (Hey, if you think I'm going overboard here, have you ever asked a grocery store employee where to find the chili garlic sauce, and then had him not only take you to it but share a fab Asian recipe using it??? I thought not. lol) The only time you'll see a manager is if they didn't have something you needed. That gets their attention. And the cashiers? Lovely young women with nice manners.

It's expensive, of course, but what's a couple of extra dollars on the weekly food bill when you're afforded such quality and treated with respect? Perhaps this sounds like hyperbole, but having that grocery chain here has seriously improved our quality of life.

sm

At first, I only went there for special things. I go there constantly now. Heaven forbid they should close up because of lack of business!!

I cannot get veal here is SW lower Michigan, nor leg of lamb. There is also no bakery that makes good artisan breads, just squishy ones like Linda mentioned. I now make my own pumpernicketl rye, which we absolutely love.
Now Annie, she is in bigger boondocks than me, and she can get them. Life is so unfair, LOL.

I can get just about anything I need within 7 miles of my house except for Polish items. First the Polish Deli/Meatmarket closed, then Bobeks closed. I guess this year I'm buying my Polish sausage for Easter at the butcher, or asking my in-laws to go into the city and pick it up. And if I want good pierogi or kolacki I have to make them myself. It was nice to have someplace I could just pick up one or two things when I was in the mood for them.

There is so much that I can't find I hate to start. In town our population is 555 and our grocery store only carries the basics. Then next closest place is 17 miles away and is a little better. I can go to Grand Island which is a population of 35,000 now has a HyVee and there is a selection. But to go to a whole foods or something like that is a 3-4 hour drive.

Stacie

My local grocery store is, well, "local." It's awesome for convenience stuff, but I don't expect them to do everything. They stock three different brands of lefse (I live in WI) but when, for example, I asked for file powder for gumbo (and spelled it and explained what it was), a manager proudly walked me to the freezer... and to their selection of phyllo dough... (sigh)

Our local grocery store features no lamb of any kind and no veal. No bother: there is an excellent meat market on Main Street that has whatever I need... plus their meat isn't brined or otherwise "enhanced" or compromised. Also, the local foods movement is pretty alive here. When I want something special, it's pretty easy to source it through a production source.

I do think it's OK to have to seek out special or artisan items. The concept of the modern supermarket is pretty recent, and I don't expect them to have every possible item under the sun regardless of season. I support a lot of independent shops that specialize in artisenal and imported items.

I'm actually planning to ask the seven guests we're hosting for Easter Weekend if they'd like to visit a local lamb farm for birthing days on Sunday. If we go, I'll get some for my freezer as well... but I can't cook it on Sunday, as my father refuses to visit me if I cook it for him.

I grew up in beef country so was not familiar with lamb until we moved to Greece. Although it is grown there, they use theirs for wool and the ones I bought in the market were imports from New Zealand. They were wonderful. We frequently had lamb when we ate out. THEN I returned to the US and bought lamb - UGH. I cooked it but it smelled so bad while it cooked that I ran it down the garbage disposal and never bought it again in the grocery store. However, over the years I have put four in my freezer and three of them were excellent.

We have Easter at my Aunt's house in the Bronx...everything and anything is available at the Italian markets on Arthur Avenue. She makes capretto which is a Neapolitan tradition.

Leg of lamb, veal etc is all available here in CT.

and we have good bakeries and fantastic bread....-maria

Here is a link that might be useful: Arthur Avenue

Thank goodness for Trader Joes! Otherwise I'd be in deep doo doo.
When I first moved to Palm Springs, the bread was all Wonder White..beyond squishy. In fact, whenever friends would come down they always asked "so, where do you get "good" bread"? You don't. I miss good seafood. I have no Asian market and the only choices are what the supermarkets carry.
I'm in San Fransisco now visiting my son Gabriel and am in pure heaven! The choices are phenomenal. I went to Ranch 99, a large Asian market the other day and bought chicken feet! Made the broth that I'd been wanting to try :)
Today I spent the day in Berkley (Gabe goes to school at Berkley) and had a ball poking around there. I'm going to be here for another 3 weeks and plan on hitting every ethnic market I can! I brought an extra suitcase too :)

No lamb anymore. Walmart stocked it for awhile and I feasted regular because it was always marked down for quick sale. Big meanies stopped stocking it. Not a big veal fan so I don't know about that. One local grocer has real bakery bread that is baked in the store. They just hired a new baker so everyone is holding their breath to see if she can bake a loaf or not.

No curry paste in town. No decent cumin unless you pay $2.50/oz. No Sam Adams chocolate stout. Pizza Hut is the best pizza in town... sad. No stockings... thigh-hi's sometimes if you are not yet allergic to the silicone grippers. Glenlivet but no French Oak Reserve... or American Oak for that matter. Somedays Johnny Black just don't git it. Is it really possible to have civilization without scotch and black stockings?

Lots of road kill!

: )
lyra/michael

"The store managers constantly 'rearranged' things, apparently thinking a scavenger hunt theme would add to my shopping pleasure. And did I really need to listen to the cashier in my lane b*tchin' to the cashier in the next about her hours/her pay/her boyfriend??" - OMG SM, are you sure you don't live close to me?

Our Publix has lamb, but I don't eat it. I have bought veal from them, but Annie is about to win me over with her argument. To get a crown roast of pork, I had to special order it two years ago for a cooking contest. They now have an "Artisan" bread case, but the bread is so overpriced, I'd rather make my own. Jeez, who's going to pay $4.99 for a small boule of pumpernickel or sunflower bread?

McQuades Marketplace has veal & lamb. They also make several crown pork roasts every Saturday & Sunday morning so I don't have to special order if I get there before 10:00 a.m. McQuades' bakery is also very good for breads. We are a tourist destination & tourists want good bakeries so we've got 3-4 to choose from besides McQuades. All are good but again you have to get there early before the vultures clean the cases. They're small bakeries & variety seems to depend on how the baker was feeling that particular day...maybe they have what you're looking for & maybe they don't but will in two days! If you call ahead they will have whatever you'd like.

We are a village of about 4,000 people & besides the 3-4 bakeries we also have FIVE full-service Dunkin' Donuts, TWO Starbucks within two blocks of each other, & ONE Tim Horton's. Tourists eat a lot of bread & rolls.

The bakeries' breads are basically cleaned out well before noon except for from right after New Years through Easter when locals have the village to themselves. After Easter, the bakeries have lines out the door of boaters waiting for the bread to come out of the oven in the mornings. All have small, tight parking lots & it's not worth the hastle & jostling just to get a loaf of bread, IMO.

The Seaport lost its head baker about 3 years ago & they've not been able to find another baker as good so the Seaport's bakery has declined in popularity with the locals. Tourists still clean their cases out though.

/tricia

I am beyond spoiled when it comes to the availability of good food near me. The large grocery stores are pretty good, you can get most anything but I prefer the smaller shops.

There are great bakeries, a fishmonger, a butcher, a couple of vegetable markets, a couple of European delis, all top quality, within 10 minutes of my house....sooooo lucky!

Also have a Whole Foods 5 minutes away but I'm picky what I buy there as they are way too pricey in my mind. I do buy my cheese there, fabulous selection.

Even with all that though you folk will often mention products I can't get here, they just don't seem to be available in Canada, most often condiments. Oh, and Linda, no Maytag Blue!!!

Living in the suburbs of a major city, I can get pretty much anything I want, including Kobe steaks for $200 a pound. We have a new butcher nearby who specializes in high quality meats, including prime.

However, it would be nice to have no traffic and more open spaces!

Here is a link that might be useful: Main Line Prime

LOL, I'm reading this and I probably should tell you that the ONLY reason I can get those two meats is because we have a local county fair with an active 4H and the local grocery stores support 4H by buying their lambs, their calves, their pigs. (grin) The bakery has been here for 30 or 40 years at least, so they still do it the old fashioned way.

I can't get any chocolate other than Hershey's or Nestle's, though. Coffee is limited to Folger's, Maxwell House, Eight O' Clock. No King Arthur Flour, just gold Medal and Pillsbury's. No cardamom and only one brand of olive oil, no balsamic vinegar of any type, no phyllo dough. No Trader Joe's or Whole Foods less than 4 hours from me. No Pizza Hut, no Dunkin' Donuts, no fast food other than Subway. Starbucks is 50 miles away, but I don't like it anyway, ditto Krispy Kreme.

So, I can get stuff I never eat, but I can't get the stuff I use every day. Go figure. Oh, and population in my small town is somewhere around 900....

Annie

I'm not much of a leg o' lamb person so I've never looked for that although here in Houston I imagine I could find it fairly easily if I called around first. I can definitely get lamb chops, lamb shanks, lamb burgers, etc, and same goes for veal, lots of cuts available.

As far as good bread goes, there's no shortage of it here. Most of the grocery stores carry a reasonable variety of fresh breads, plus we have lots o' bakeries. Just finished up a delicious loaf of Rosemary Olive Oil bread that had a lovely flavor and a super crispy crust that stayed super crispy even a few days after I'd bought it.

And did I really need to listen to the cashier in my lane b*tchin' to the cashier in the next about her hours/her pay/her boyfriend??
LOL! That's why I almost never shop at Kroger -- I think that they specifically train their employees to do just that!

We can get all kinds of stuff here, but midwest beef beats what we can get here, although Costco is doing pretty well in that department. What I can't get is a decent tomato, fresh berries that taste like berries, and peaches/apricots that taste like peaches/apricots. I have to wait until friends who grow tomatoes take pity on me and give me some in the summer. And although we can get near anything, some things are hideously expensive, so that's like not having it, right?

I just got the weekly ads and saw leg of lamb for $3.99 a lb. at Safeway. I don't know how good it looks though. All the stores have it now for Easter. This is the Central coast CA.
I either go to a bakery for heavy duty bread or make my own. Though Nob Hill has some good ones.
Clare

Linda I'm spoiled where I live. We have it all...Harris Teeter, Whole Foods, Wegman's, Trader Joe's, Costco, BJ's, Sam's Club, Penzey's, Safeway, Giant, all kinds of family run grocers, etc.

That is a good thing but bad in other aspects. If you like to cook (which I know you do) you just can't decide which place to go to and there isn't enough time in the day to go to them all! Not to mention how broke I would be if I did hit them all in one day:)

Ah, the joy of living in metro Chicago! Name it and I can probably get it. It sure has spoiled me.

Linda, next trip here, you go shopping and stock teh freezer.

Surprise, surprise....to quote Gomer..
I called the new Hy vee again today and they had very nice looking boneless legs of lamb....about 3 1/2 pounds, for $5.99 a pound....I bought 2!
Now I have to think of the rest of the meal1
Linda C

I'm trying to remember, and I don't think I EVER saw lamb in...um...where I was before. I could find it an hour away at a (very expensive) meat market, but not locally.

I seem to recall seeing veal a couple times, but veal is something I won't touch, and so would not notice its presence/absence. Forget finding any bread that wasn't "fluffy" or any fish that wasn't catfish. Don't even think about finding any kind of "exotic" mushroom/pepper/fresh herb. Basically if it can't be sugar coated or deep-fried, isn't hugely processed, doesn't have at least 20% salt/sugar and doesn't contain transfats, forget about finding it there. And forget eating out unless you like fast food or lower quality chains. (They were all a'twitter when Huddle House opened.)

Now here? It's not like California where I could literally find anything, but it's pretty darn good. The only thing I've found really lacking is availability of fish (except that d#mned catfish...what the heck is it with the blasted catfish everywhere?) and I do have to really hunt for things like tahini, miso, etc.

. . . you want to talk "rural"?!? . . . I'm 4 hours from the nearest big chain anything. Besides super Walmart, I have 2 local grocers to choose from. They're actually pretty good about shelved items that are a little 'out there', and although I pay through the nose for them, I'm grateful to be able to get them and not have to order from Spain or anything :) But the fresh stuff is another story . . . if it's a little 'out there', you probably don't want it even if you can find it, LOL. The local grocer butchers will order me just about anything I need, if I ask in advance; nice! When I visit my daughter in Minneapolis, I'm like a kid in a candy store, running around to all the great foodie stores :)

I can get a great boneless leg of lamb here, at Smart and Final. If I want lamb chops, I get those at Smiths. Whole Foods? Well, we shop there on occasion. I really like to go there mostly for lunch. They have a great salad/hot bar. We buy a lot of our cheese there too. Veal? I don't think I have ever eaten it. I thought I would never eat lamb either. But we marinade it and it is wonderful.

deborah, you may have already filled your suitcase by now, but make sure if you have time, to go to University Avenue near the University of Berkeley, and hunt through the wonderful Indian food shops.

Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, there is very little we can't find. Oh, there are a few things that can be difficult - real salt-cured homemade sauerkraut, for one (we were probably the only Japanese American family in Chicago that ate large quantities of pickled herring in sour cream as well as Polish sausages with sauerkraut and grilled onions).

It's a great area for artisanal breads, gourmet sausages and salumi, as well as most ethnic foods - not just Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Filipino/Vietnamese/Thai/Cambodian, but also Afghani, Indian, Greek, Turkish, Latino, Ethiopian, and a few dozen others.

Even better, you don't have to cook: you can go out and eat at excellent ethnic restaurants for less than it costs you in time and energy to cook dinner.