Yogiji’s Food Mart is in South City Mall, tucked in the alley behind Warehouse Stationary and Hunting & Fishing. In front of the store the pavement is cracked, and inside the shopping carts are antique. I don’t mind, the ambiance just all adds to the authenticity of the experience.
I’ve never been to India, but in my imagination it’s a little bit like walking into Yogiji’s. It’s pungent. It’s colorful. The radio plays music that doesn’t use the western 8-note scale. Fellow shoppers speak a fluid-sounding language that I don’t begin to understand.  The shop owners are very courteous, though they must be wondering what I’m doing blundering around their store.  Who knew that you needed six different chili powders to cook dinner?

Maybe I’d enjoy cooking if I could use such pretty serving dishes. I eye them with envy, but at our house we just serve our plates off the pans on the stove….I can’t quite justify the expense for beauty’s sake alone.

What in the world is this? Most of the legume bins have unintelligible names but I can see that they’re some sort of bean or lentil.  I can’t even tell if this is vegetable or animal. A quick google search later (what did we ever do in the dark ages when all we had were encyclopedias?), and I find that the’re some sort of sun-dried legume patty. Sounds good to me, next time I’m going to buy some.