A Desparated Consumer

Shopping can be a pasttime or even an art form in the United States. Specialized, exclusive boutiques, majestic shopping malls - now that’s entertainment. 

But that’s only shopping for clothes and furniture and things you don’t really need. You can sit on the floor trust me. Grocery shopping - hunting and gathering - is fun, but if you don’t do it, you will fall down and stop moving. Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s make a run at making it an experience - but any place that’s willing to get rid of you if you buy fifteen items or fewer is not fun.

More so when you shop in Cameroon. We’ve established a small circle of supermarkets where we can get seriously food. We have the large, open-air markets, especially Mokolo, the largest in Yaounde, but it’s not practical to do several days’ worth of shopping where you have to lug your catch back home on foot. It’s more lively, more exotic, but sometimes you just need to get some milk and move on. 

Enter Mahima, a mini-chain of supermarkets. We call the two here New Mahima and Old Mahima. I have never been in New Mahima because I never decide that I need something until 12:50 on Sunday afternoon, and most supermarket closely fast and firm at 1 pm on the Lord’s Day. Old Mahima is adequately stocked, though buying fruit is laborious. They seem to weigh it piece by piece. Pavilion Vert is less complete, and less frilly. That sharp smell of bloody meat controls the back half of the supermarket, encouraging you to settle on whatever’s in your basket and get out. 

I finally made it to Casino, an affiliate of a European market conglomerate. It was somehow reassuring to enter the store, once I braved the parking lot, which has only one access point, marked “EXIT.” There was variety. There were frivolous things, like cookies and frozen pizzas. I found items that resembled familiar ones back home, like a reasonable substitute for disposable diapers. Electronic scanners at the registers.

Mahima would be the Safeway or Giant of Cameroon. Pavilion Vert is like a Magruder’s. And Casino is like a dreamy Trader Joe’s or Whole Food. Forget comfort food. I’ll take the shopping experience when I need something to calm me down.