My first hour submerged in Irish culture was in a globally known grocery store. I had a plan to find 3 easy dinner ingredients and a small breakfast option. For dinner- a vegetable, a sweet potato, and a protein. For breakfast, the whole store was up for my consideration, no plan was made. Many would assume that such a basic meal plan would be an easy one to shop for. Perhaps 20 minutes was all that would be needed. However,  diet is a priority of mine and food is practically a hobby so the grocery store, to me, might as well be a mall to a shopaholic.

I began with breakfast. A simple  banana makes a strong and smart start. I proceed to take the next 15 minutes conducting careful product comparisons and deciphering the European nutrition label and ingredient lists which are certainly different from that of America. Microwaveable oatmeals and various yogurts were my filtered choices. In the end of this 20 minute search, a banana and high protein yogurt were my prize. 

With my breakfast of choice in hand, I move on to dinner. I embarked on this journey by first considering  the proteins, looking for something ready-made or microwaveable, given the kitchen to be cooked in was not my own nor extravagant. 30 minutes spent on another round of product comparisons and nutrition label decoding resulted in 2 contending selections. A ready-made packet of chicken, or irish beef “skinny” burgers. After deliberation, I came to my decision and proceeded to pluck through the veg fridges. Small serving size and easy quick-boil “microwavability” were my criteria in this hunt. After a 5 minute look around I had made a choice to compliment my previous pick of protein. We were nearly there. Finally, the food that had been set ahead of time and required no thought at all, a sweet potato, was next. After a minute or two, likely appearing psychotic to the average bystander, I carefully examined the crate of orange roots to find the smallest one walking away with a potato the same size as all the others.  

My first hour submerged in Irish culture was in a globally known grocery store. Strangers watched as I glared at food packages the way a caveman might glare at an iphone and walked up and down aisle 1 for the fourth time. An hour of cultural acclimation and experiential research resulted in a banana and yogurt breakfast and a dinner of burgers with steamed green beans and sweet potatoes. 

I took the results of my hard work to cook, spent 10 minutes pressing buttons on the electric touchscreen stove top attempting to turn it on, and ended up with the best authentic Chinese ramen a girl could ask for in the heart of Dublin.