Be brave; buy groceries

If you eat only at restaurants when you travel, you're missing out on the magic of grocery stores.

Grocery stores? Magic? Really?

Yes.

You'll get insight into how locals live - starting with what they eat.

If you travel to the United Kingdom, for example, you'll probably find eggs on the shelves near canned goods, not refrigerated. This can be a shock to Americans, but there's a good reason for it. British farmers vaccinate their hens against E. coli, while Americans don't. The E. coli risk is the reason Americans refrigerate eggs, and this lack of risk is why Brits don't refrigerate theirs (or need to).

Beyond that, build your grocery store visit into a cultural experience by noticing:

• what is the store named? (in Vienna, for example, some Aldi stores are called Hofer)

• is the store bigger or smaller than where you shop at home?

• what are the names of products you commonly use at home?

• does the store sell any different flavors or varieties of the products you use at home?

• which soft drinks are sold? Is "your" soda available there? Are the ingredients the same?

• which other drink options or sodas are sold? (Hint: try a couple)

• what is "your" painkiller called?

• which types of milk are available? We were surprised to find Schafmilch, or sheep's milk, in Austria

• how much do items cost? Compare your home "staple items"

• do you recognize all the fruits and vegetables that are sold? Are some varieties new to you?

• how are the snacks the same as - or different from - what you know at home?

• which products surprised you? For me, it was canned eels in Vienna

• how many cleaning items do they sell, and what are the ingredients?

Once you get past the products, look at the other logistics of grocery-shopping:

• how is the packaging different from what you know? In the U.K., for example, we were surprised to find Braille on all the packaging. Then we wondered why it isn't on U.S. packaging

• how do people pay? Via clerk or automated checkout?

• how much do people buy? Are they carrying several bags that would represent a week's worth of groceries, or is it less?

• how do people transport their purchases through the store - do they use carts? Are the carts the same as you have at home?

• recycling - are recycling bins at the grocery store? do they offer a deposit/return?

After you start looking closely at grocery stores when you travel, you might see them as more than the place you pick up some drinking water or painkiller. They're a reflection of each nation's and community's culture.