Esselunga lets me down

♦ November 24, 2014 ♦ Leave a comment

 

I know it is rare that I write anything negative about Esselunga, the grocery store that Ben and I drive all the way to Arezzo to shop at.  But a string of happenings has caused me concern. 

Last spring or early summer, shortly after cheddar cheese appeared at Esselunga, the pre-packaged, off the shelf Roquefort disappeared.  So did the snooty buy-it-from-the-cheese-case offerings.  No Roquefort at all!!!!!  What’s a wing lover to do?  I tried making blue cheese dressing with Gorgonzola but it was just not right.  I tried Feta.  Still not right!  I was whining about it to Richard who said ‘Well, I get Roquefort from the COOP in Monte San Savino.’  I found this hard to believe, a store that does not have fresh mushrooms or limes has Roquefort?  Sure enough they did.  Eventually the snooty version reappeared at Esselunga but it did shake my faith in them.  In their defense, cheese is a seasonal product.  It is possible that their supplier simply ran out.  But I still don’t understand why the off the shelf version hasn’t come back.  It was in a nice reseal able container.  Lasted longer too. 

 

Then Nerone’s favorite brand of Purina dog food (for sensitive stomachs) disappeared from the shelves of Esselunga.  Off to the IperCoop where I would often go to buy bags of it when they put it on sale.  But they didn’t have it either.  Evidently Purina just stopped making it.

 

Then my favorite brand of beer disappeared!!!!!!  YIKES!!!! Much more serious than the Roquefort  or dog food dilemmas.  It was not the taste of the beer, although that is important, or the price point, it was the plastic bottle that made this beer my fav.  I can easily carry 6 plastic liter bottles of beer.  Six glass liter bottles are heavy.  And when empty, the recycling is heavy.  And there was no brand with screw tops.  So I was practically forced to drink the whole bottle once it was opened.   Woe, woe and more woe.  I started interviewing other beers but the glass bottles were really getting me down.  Finally it occurred to me to check the di Piu (there is supposed to be an accent mark in there but I can’t find those is this publishing program) in Monte San Savino where I buy my favorite fizzy pink wine. 

 

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Success!  Two different choices.  Both have acceptable taste, reasonable price point, plastic bottle, screw top.  Ticks every box.  And this is a store that carries fresh mushrooms and sour cream.  (I forget to look for limes)  We tried their chicken thighs and I was very impressed with them.  Last week we tried a steak, cut by the in-store butcher who will come out and chat.  It was very good.  Trying another one tonight.   Could Esselunga be replaced?

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