Walmart is really bad about running out of stock. But in my small community they have come a long way on the unusual items. I know when I go up to WV and I want a decent home-cooked meal I have to buy the stuff here and take it with me because so much of the ingredients that we have available here (FL) they don't even know what it is much less have it for sale. Especially for ethnic cuisines.

You can’t make a decent home-cooked meal in West Virginia? I think you need to expand your repertoire.

Sammy. Don't get all bent. Yes you can make a decent home-cooked meal in WV. Fried chicken, homemade soups, stews, breads, dumplings, pots of beans. But in the area I'm speaking of there is not a lot of ingredients available when it comes to other cuisines. Maybe in the bigger towns, I don't know but in the area where my family is, no. And since it's a big expense to entertain visitors I try to compensate by making something special for a big dinner and it's difficult unless I take certain ingredients up there with me.

I agree. I have been making curried lentil soup after my son brought me some he had made which was delicious. There were multiple Amazon vendors of yellow lentils and I had excellent curry powder from Walmart.com. I'm sure that there will be multiple vendors of split peas on Amazon.

Although not as frequent now but for a long time groceries in some parts of this country especially the strip between Colorado and Missouri only received on shipments one day a week. If you wanted fresh meat or produce you did not grow yourself you needed to be there on that day. Before I was married I went camping and ran into this frequently. When people read about food deserts they are not just talking about inner cities. There are areas in this country which the stores only have the bare basics. With turmeric and a few other spices and herbs a basic American type curry powder can be made.

One of the many bonuses of the high immigrant population in our area is that we have great access to a wide variety of foods - not just in grocery stores, but also restaurants. It's like fusion gone wild here - yum! Sorry you don't have the same access to products.

I am lucky like Daisychain. With so many different sorts of people all our local small towns have good stores with interesting stuff. We even have Russian specialty food stores. This is an agricultural county so lots of amazing Latino stuff, but also Dutch because of the bulb growers. The curry powder locally isn't going to be anything special but it is there.

patriciae off topic but with your mention of Russian food stores have you seen or had a specialty of that part of the world, whole pickled tomatoes? One of the sites I visit mentioned them and while whole ripe ones with the skin on would be interesting.

I can have issues looking for other than very ordinary every day ingredients in our limited groceries in this small area too. Hispanic type ingredients are not a problem. I travel with a cooler. I can't remember the last time I had a leisurely day of something like Nordstrom, lunch, couple of nurseries. I have to leave time before starting for home for Costco, Trader Joe's, Haggen NW, Whole Foods ;0)

Walmart is really bad about running out of stock.

I find that to be a regular thing at our local W. 2 days ago I had to give up on about 3 or 4 items. Will look at a local grocery chain this next week. those things included barley and coffee (in a can of about 1 lb. they had super humongous cans of some types (maybe 5 lb size?)). It'd take me the rest of my life to go thru that much coffee. I could will it to my sister...

I wasn't the only one noticing the empty shelves and looking for things that are basic items. Struck up a conversation with a nice couple who were also rather disgusted with this particular W superstore. They too were checking things off of their list that weren't to be found. Of course that W keeps moving things around just doesn't help. They switched frozen dinners and frozen vegt around I think it was 3 times in just a few weeks! Now if it isn't where it was anymore, I just cross it off and buy it at the local grocery when I go there. I'm buying more and more at that other store. It's usually a bit more in price, but saves me from wandering around from aisle to aisle.

A few weeks ago I was at a W superstore in a nearby town and they did have split peas. I haven't checked the one closest to me tho. I was in that town so just stopped in there for a few things. They always seem well stocked.

desertsteph other than a few coffees like Yuban you are unlikely to find any that are in one pound cans. Most store brands have gone to bags.

One thing I am finding is that in my regular store is that someone thinks that if a food could be of interest to any ethnic or health group the food will be placed in those groups rather than with the regular food. One of the few canned things I purchase is a certain brand of tomatoes. Gone from the regular area with all of the rest and now put in an Italian specialty area. The agave sweeteners rather than being with the regular sweeteners or with the organic/health food area is with a diet area and no longer stocked any other place.

When we moved from Manhattan to this old farm in the 1970s, the thing I missed most was ethnic food. The county didn't even have a Chinese restaurant. Curry powder was available, but not much else. We eventually started a commercial tofu business because making tofu in the kitchen was so time-consuming and labor intensive. And this was pre-Amazon--indeed, pre-internet!

I know EXACTLY how you feel,Kath.

We are 45 minutes from "town"...population of about 10,000; an hour and 1/2 from the "city" and also have various ethnic groups.

"Shop at home" we are told...keep the economy local,we are told.

We had our Christmas family dinner just on Saturday past...last week,we went to town with purchasing 3 different items in mind-which thankfully were not a necessity for our dinner,but would have been nice to have.

We checked out ALL of the stores that may have had the items,common items I might add,and nothing available.....nothing!

2 other stops for stuff that had nothing to do with the original items,and they too,were out of whatever and the truck comes Monday(meaning today).

So,here we are, 45 minutes from town,living in rural Ontario north country where it doesn't know whether or not to rain, snow,sleet or what the heck....and the truck will be here Monday.

Easy fix on my part....Bancroft Ontario can go to he!! from here on out... shop locally-yes we will-all the way to Peterborough.

rant over....for now

I have learned to buy split peas well before holidays where ham is typically served. Everyone buys split peas for the bone, and like a flash, the well stocked split pea shelves are emptied.

I was born in Kansas City, MO in 1943. We moved to Topeka, KS when I was 8 and lived there until I was 19 when my parents moved to St Louis. My mother always had curry powder and turmeric in her kitchen cabinet - used the curry powder for chicken salad for ladies luncheons. I have no idea what the turmeric was used for - probably some recipe she tried once. No, she could not get won ton wrappers or other foreign foods when I was a child, but it was hardly a wasteland, even in those days.

I can't buy curry leaves even today at any of my local stores, including Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. Often, recipes in the NYTimes call for ingredients I cannot buy locally - probably could if I want to go all the way across town to a Vietnamese market or some such place - too much bother. As another said, "Amazon Prime"!

Around the holidays, deliveries to grocery stores get all messed up. Different unions have more than just the holiday itself off so stocks can be challenged. I'm sure the same is true of markets in NYC. Tonight, caviar and foie gras are probably sold out in many stores on the Upper West and East sides. Here in KY, it would be hard to find dried, fresh or frozen black eyed peas - even the canned ones. They're sold out.

Isn't it wonderful that we can order what local stores just don't have enough demand for to stock?

I've lived in LA and NYC and it IS wonderful to have just about everything on earth right at ones fingertips. But there are trade-offs, too. I'll stay where I am - I couldn't afford to buy a 300 sq ft efficiency apt in a good neighborhood in either city. Instead, I live in a 2800 sq ft house. Works for me...

I looked everywhere I went last week and did not find any fruitcake. I know, who eats fruitcake? Well, I do. I enjoy a chaw of fruitcake during the year end holidays.

Mafleur not sure if this is what you mean, and it's not cheap even in person, but...The Pickle Guys... I can almost smell it looking at the webpage. As an aside, it is a worthwhile visit if in NYC. It's an experience of all means and the pickles are incredible. They do ship nationwide.

When we moved to Wisconsin from Oklahoma twenty plus years ago I found that I couldn't find Del Monte canned Cajun style tomatoes, canned crowder peas, fresh or frozen okra, Shawnee Mills buttermilk pancake mix, Stillwell frozen blackberry cobbler, 'fresh' new crop dried pinto beans, fresh pecans, canned hominy, raggedly ripe canned peaches, eggplant... Took some searching to find dried black-eyed peas , molasses, even basic yellow cornmeal (forget about whole grain cormeal) and buttermilk. The other striking thing was the meat case; I was like 'Where is the chicken???" The chicken section was a fraction of what I was used to seeing and whole birds just about weren't/ aren't there. Mostly pieces, pkgs. of just thighs, just breasts, etc. Almost all of the detergents in the aisle were liquid vs mostly powders in the stores in OK at that time. Yeh, it is frustrating.

At least, when Wal-Mart expanded into groceries, I was able to buy frozen okra (sometimes), reliably find buttermilk, hominy & molasses.

I'm seeing a trend now where the staples are getting shrunk and squeezed out in favor of an explosion of convenience foods. For instance, the frozen concentrated juice section is about 1/3 the size that it was just a few years ago and with a bare bones selection....shrunk to make way for freezer section space hogs of heat n' eat items. (Aldi, in particular, appears to have lost the plot.)

And, yes, my Wal-Mart can't seem to keep the shelves stocked. Same story at Aldi. Too much reliance on 'just in time' delivery that turns out to be Not just in time? Too reliant on computerized ordering that doesn't account for that Christmas ham bone needing some split or black-eyed peas to finish it off? Something a decent store manager of old would have known and have doubled up on stock orders?

Cool website, salonva! I'd like to understand more about fermenting and real pickling -- that'd make a good 2019 resolution.

For many years I lived where the local grocery choices were Food Lion and Food Lion. Ethnic choices were Chinese (americanized, good but not exciting) and Taco Bell (lol). Now that we live in a small city with a large variety of ethnic groups, food choices are sooooo much better.

It's all a trade off, and it sure helps to know the area you are going to be eating in.

I lived in an large city that had any option you could think of in food varieties. I've also lived in what I call "Heinz Ketchup & French's Mustard land", where that's the extent of condiments available in the grocery stores. I had to laugh when going into a "specialty" food store and they considered brands such as Stonewall Kitchens as something fancy instead of just an ordinary store brand.

Small town living has many advantages but shopping variety isn't one of them.

salonva I think when I wrote that I was wondering if you had tried the whole pickled tomatoes and how difficult they were to eat. The YT thing showed someone holding a tomato in his hand that was supposedly pickled about to take a bite. Looked like he would be covered with juice but video ended there. The ones at the site you posted and other sites only show the sliced or small tomatoes. I have had green tomato relish but never thought of pickling a whole tomato other than it would probably collapse on itself.

I grew up in the country between two small towns. Both had grocery stores. The slightly larger town had few unusual for the time foods. The smaller one the owners were always adding something and the women in the area were not hesitant on telling him to order things. Seldom did he have anything left on his shelves. Our heavy shopping was done in Kansas City when one of us had a doctor or other appointment so driving 40+ miles for shopping is not something that has ever stopped me from finding some food I want to try. I drive further than that for plants.

Ont Gal, I know, I try to shop and eat at restaurants locally. It's a small town and restaurants don't last very long. I try to eat in them but they are never open! They are only open for a short period of time Monday thru Friday or less. No wonder they go out of business. When you drive by and might stop to eat, but find they aren't ever open...well, you eventually give up. Sheilajoyce, there was no space in either store for split peas. Same with the curry. They just didn't sell them.

I remember a story Oprah told on her show, years ago.....she spent Christmas in Colorado, up by Telluride, guaranteed snow. The local grocery store did not sell vanilla wafers and had never heard of them. She wanted banana, pudding & wafer dessert. :0) Another "thing" that's regional.

Kathsgrdn, I've never known curry powder and split peas to be popular items in the town where you live, so I'm not surprised that the stores there don't carry them. I lived there many years ago and it was populated with good, hard-working people,(and I'm sure it still is). who could put a delicious meal on the table without either of those ingredients. I wouldn't consider anyplace "backwards" just because it have every little thing I want. I'm wondering why you don't move to Lexington, since it has everything you need ?

When I moved here in 1992 (before self checkout and bar code scanners were common) I regularly had to tell the checkout clerks the names of the vegetables that I was buying -- ones that everyone here would now consider routine. At least they were available!

We had a guest for dinner recently who had never tasted and did not recognize most of the vegetables he helped us prepare for dinner -- beets, sweet potatoes, radishes, parsnips, summer & winter squash. To his credit he tried all (and liked them!) He doesn't live in a "food desert" or a rural area -- he grew up and lives in a decent neighborhood in a large city.

desertsteph other than a few coffees like Yuban you are unlikely to find any that are in one pound cans. Most store brands have gone to bags.

thx! never thought of that. I buy Maxwell and the last time I bought it (6 yrs ago) I bought it at W. I remember deciding I wanted to drink coffee again (after many yrs of not drinking it). I'd been sick and a friend took me to W and I even had to buy a new coffee pot. I still have that same coffee! and thought it might not taste good after so many yrs in the cabinet. I have more recently seen small sizes in the local Walgreens ad but haven't bought it there because they're more expensive and I'm more often (at least once a week) in W for something anyway. If they don't have a small can at W (or bag ) next trip there (tomorrow) I'll make a stop at Walgreens and see what they have. The less stops (and in/out of the car), the better for me. I'm still having some problems with my left leg. I try to only go out about twice a week.

but W's shelves were really bare the day I was recently in there. there were large areas of shelves in the Maxwell area that were very, very empty.

Stonewall Kitchen products ARE "specialty" products! One does not find them on the shelves at Kroger or even at Stop 'n Shop in New England.

We discovered them at a summer tent sale in Maine - could only buy their things in Portland in their Old Port store and a small antiques/fresh flowers/gourmet items place in Cornish ME.

This was more than 15 years ago, but I still never see them at the Stop 'n Shop on Martha's Vineyard. I think Cronigs store in Vineyard Haven might carry a few things. I buy their products locally at a small local green grocer that also carries a few specialty items.

Their popover mix is outstanding! The popovers made with this mix can actually be related and don't totally deflate!

In the city that I lived in, multiple grocery store chains had a wide variety of Stonewall Kitchens products on their shelves, even stores in shall we say the "less desirable" neighborhoods. I would say that Krogers had the poorest selection of all the available stores there so I didn't bother to shop there.

Woodrose, you can actually buy curry powder here and a few months ago you could buy the Japanese curry product I was looking for. I can't afford Lexington housing prices. I've been looking. I also don't like that the houses are two feet from each other. "Backwards" might have been a little harsh but I was a little annoyed when I made the post. Raee, have had to do that too, tell them it was an avacado because they had no idea what it was. This was only a couple years ago.

Maifleur, no pickled tomatoes that I have seen. Lots of pickled and smoked fish though. I will look for them.

I know this area used to have a Russian specialty store as I passed it going to a place I shop but it closed a couple of years ago. There is a place near me that I will look. If not I may just order some. Given the number of Russians who live in this area there should be several places.

Ont_gal, my DSIL is in Peterborough. I don't recall the shopping except for all the vale shops and more importantly the used bookstores. Swoon.