Damn! it’s hard finding a black grocer in so-cal; or is that just me?
Fun fact. When you google “ethnic food stores near me” only Asian markets pop up.
No seriously. Search it. I’ll be here.
Switch “ethnic” for “cultural” and the search results will not change, with the exception of 1 halal store added to the list. I finally googled exactly what I was looking for “African Grocery store”. After scrolling past a few more asian markets I finally found something close to what I wanted.
Squeezed between a barbershop and a mobile calling card store stands ‘Sola’s African Market’. Upon entry I quickly realized this would not be my typical grocery experience.
When you first enter You can hear a television with the news playing. I noticed unmarked boxes to my right stacked much higher than my 5″2 head. To my left there were shelves with ziplocked gallon bags of white flour going for 5$. Displayed high up on the far wall, almost touching the ceiling, I saw kankelon braiding hair packs. Over the sound of the news I heard an annoyed woman calling me further into the store, not so patiently asking what I wanted.
Where the fuck was I? I didn’t know that visiting an African market would be akin to visiting my grandmother, and her offering me the treasures of the garage.
I go further into the store and realize it’s just a room, that looks more like a storage unit than a place to buy food. In the room there was a desk, a standing fan, a couch with 2 women and a baby girl who’s maybe two. The baby is the only one who smiles.
“What do you want” the woman who’s obviously in charge asks in a harsher tone than the last
“Vegetables, where are they?”
“What kind you want?”
“I don’t know, just vegetables “
I’ve never felt so insecure about wanting to see my options before.
“We only have spinach”
“I’ll take it.”
“Its frozen.”
“I’ll take it.”
“Its 5$.”
“Okay can I have it?”
“Its 5$.”
“I have that.”
“Where is it?”
I raised my hand with the 5$ and she finally handed me a brick, yes a brick, of frozen spinach.
I said thank you.
The little girl says “Thank you come back soon!“
The 2 women went back to watching tv.
At least the baby was nice.
Keilah Harris 