Small Bites: Bringing the world home

How not to be intimidated by an international market.

“Small Bites” is about exploring the broader world of food and drink in Madison through approachable and specific experiences.

As a city, Madison loves to pretend it’s a small town and not a bustling, growing metropolis. In some ways, it feels true—the isthmus concentrates the city’s population into a tidy geographical footprint, so it’s not odd to bump into someone you know on the sidewalk while trying to navigate at least two Long Goodbye groups congregating after an early bird breakfast. That small-town feel helps boost local food traditions (fish fry and cheese curds, anyone?), but there’s more than Germanic heritage in our foodways. Universities help turn smaller cities into international hubs, and off the top of my head, I can name 25 busy restaurants that focus on the specific cuisine of a single country. I feel like you could hit a full world tour within a one-mile radius of my east-side home.

Madison is also home to a plethora of international grocery stores and markets that aren’t quite as busy as the aforementioned restaurants. And I get it—shopping at an international market can be intimidating. Unfamiliar ingredients, foreign languages on the packaging, types of fish in the deli you’ve never seen before… it can all add up to sensory overload. However, I have a three-part cheat code to help you expand your grocery runs to include more stores: starches, snacks, and condiments. Keep these things in mind, and you’ll do just fine.

Italian markets like Alimentari and Fraboni’s are regularly in my rotation. Both spots are known for their sandwiches, but I can’t resist picking up high-end, imported-from-Italy dried pasta. Pricier than what you normally find on a grocery shelf, most of these pasta were either shaped by hand or extruded through custom bronze die, giving them excellent texture for gripping sauces. They are also made with heirloom durum wheat milled slightly coarser, retaining more protein and fiber for superior texture. But this isn’t just a piece about dried pasta. You can also snag jars of sundried tomatoes, high-quality anchovies, Calabrian peppers packed in oil, and a variety of pre-made pestos, too. Grab a bag of taralli on your way out along with a can of chinotto for a snack in the car.

Another store working its way into my regular rotation is Gooh Grocery. The East Washington Avenue store, which opened earlier this year, focuses on pan-African foods. The fried pepper sauce I bought there is spicy, tangy, and savory, making it a great marinade for grilled chicken or sauce to serve with rice. Speaking of rice, I’m quite partial to the varieties of Egyptian rice that Gooh stocks. Egyptian rice is a medium-grain rice that cooks up fat and fluffy without sticking to itself, making it great for various Middle-Eastern dishes that don’t cook quite right with too much starch. I’m also partial to the store’s date case, where you can choose from a number of different styles of dates to keep on hand for a quick, sweet bite at home.

At Global Market and Food Hall, you could spend an entire day in the snack section. I recently came home with a Taiwanese chip that looked like rotini pasta, seasoned with a sort of sweet and spicy barbecue powder. But there’s also a wide stock of fish sauce and Chinese cooking wine, both essential to mastering Southeast and East Asian cuisines. It’s a great stop for dried mushrooms, too, which are great for stock and more affordable for fancy varieties than their fresh cousins. And who can forget the food hall? Dumplings, noodles, Hmong sausage, bubble tea—grabbing lunch is a great way to get inspired to explore more of the ingredients in the grocery side. The real kicker, though, is the variety of dried noodles. It’s all there: udon, rice noodles, soba, lo mein noodles. No matter what you’re looking for, Global Market has a selection to choose from—key for when you’ve got a recipe in mind, but your usual grocery spot doesn’t quite have the variety you need.

There’s no shortage of great markets to choose from in Madison either. Viet Hoa in Monona has premade bánh mi ready to grab. Patricia’s Market is a great stop for any Mexican ingredients you might need (including the good tortillas). And these are just the options on the east side. Moving west, there are a variety of Hmong markets, Indian markets, and other stores focusing on Central American cuisine. There’s also Fresh Mart, which just opened in the former Whole Foods space (3313 University Avenue). There, the owner’s Middle Eastern roots are on display at the hot bar, but Fresh Mart also features hand-pulled noodles and fresh sushi. There’s absolutely no way I can catalog every international grocery in the area, and I’m sure people are reading this and just screaming that I’m leaving their favorite spot out.

OK, now it’s overwhelming again. But that’s also OK! A lot of cooking and dining habits are just that: habits. Routine behaviors based on the familiar. Breaking out of those regular rotations requires intention, and a great way to do that is to start small. You don’t need to master Som Tam Thai to start incorporating fish sauce into some of your tried-and-true home stir-fry dishes. Instead of the regular ol’ spaghetti and meatballs, why not try Orecchiette con Salsiccia e Cime di Rapa with hand-shaped pasta? You’d be surprised how easily a fancy pasta dish comes together and even more surprised with how high-end pasta can transform your dining experience at home.

If that’s still a little overwhelming, don’t fret. Do you know what else is great at Patricia’s Market? The homemade salsas. Stop by, grab a green one and a red one and a bag of chips, and get home and get snacking. Or grab some frozen samosas from Gooh. Or a super pack of premium instant noodles from Global Market. Bit by bit, the more you frequent one of these local stores, the more regular your habits become. Whether you become a saltfish pro or an al pastor savant is entirely up to you. You can always just stick to the basics: starch, snacks, and condiments.