In our defence, it looked exactly like dried mango.

The Incident

One of the first things I do in any new country is find a local supermarket or convenience store and just walk around. In Korea that meant CU, one of the ubiquitous convenience chains you’ll find on almost every street corner. The shelves are nothing like back home and that’s the point.

I picked up a corn silk tea, an unsweetened iced tea that tastes exactly like you would imagine popcorn tea to taste like. Unusual, genuinely interesting, exactly the kind of thing you’d never find in a Woolies. My friend grabbed a packet of what he was convinced was dried mango. We really just looked at the contents and saw orange/yellow strips. We all tried some before the smoky taste arrived and someone thought to check the packet more carefully. There was a picture of two dogs on the front! I guess it pays to look more closely at the pack!

Dog treats. We had been eating dog treats.

To be clear, we were fine. The pet food incident is now something we laugh about.

Why Supermarket Tourism Is One of the Best Things You Can Do in a New Country

Beyond the occasional snack incident, wandering a local supermarket or convenience store is one of the most underrated ways to get a feel for a place. You see what people actually eat on a regular basis, not the restaurant version designed for visitors. You get a real sense of what things cost, which calibrates your entire understanding of the local economy. And you stumble across things you’d never encounter through any other kind of travel experience.

In Korea specifically, the CU and GS25 convenience stores are worth a dedicated visit. Hot food behind the counter, fresh snacks, drinks you can’t quite translate, entire categories of product that don’t have an equivalent back home. It’s a legitimate activity and takes less than 30 minutes.

What to Actually Look For

Hot food sections are worth exploring first since the turnover is high and the options change. Refrigerated drinks are where you’ll find the most unfamiliar territory. Snack aisles reward time spent reading packaging, carefully. Seasonal or regional items tend to be stacked near the entrance. And if something looks like dried mango, check the pack before you open it. Definitely rely on the pictures on the package! Lesson learned.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve picked up at a supermarket overseas? Comment below with your find. Follow 5 Star Trip for more travel content that covers the parts of a trip most guides skip.