Skip the long queues, the overpriced hop-on buses, and the generic souvenir shops. If you really want to get under the skin of a new city, grab a trolley and head straight to the nearest local grocery store, where real culture is stacked on the snack aisles.
Enter the "Supermarket Safari", the travel trend quietly replacing tourist traps with snack-aisle exploration.
For decades, travel itineraries were built around visiting historic sites, rooftop bars curated for Instagram and restaurants that are tailored just for tourists, but modern travellers are growing tired of the polished versions of cities.
They want context. And context isn't sold at the souvenir shop; it’s stacked on the shelves of the local supermarket.
Driven by the "grocery haul" craze
While curious travellers have always popped into local shops, social media turned this casual habit into a full-blown movement.
The trend gained real momentum on TikTok and Instagram, where videos of Japanese 7-Eleven runs, French Monoprix hauls and Spanish snack taste-tests began pulling in millions of views.
Instead of flexing luxury hotels, creators found viral success by unboxing foreign potato chip flavours, local soft drinks and rare candy bars in their hotel rooms.
This online fascination tapped into a broader post-pandemic travel shift. Burned out by overcrowded tourist hubs and soaring restaurant prices, travellers began craving lower-key, hyper-authentic experiences.
Walking through foreign grocery aisles offered the perfect fix: an affordable, crowd-free activity that felt less like a scripted tour and more like an inside peek into everyday local life.
The anthropology of the snack aisle
A foreign supermarket is an unfiltered look into the rhythms of everyday life. The moment you step through the supermarket doors, you are no longer treated as a tourist; you are participating in a local routine.
In Tokyo, travellers will find an entire wall of cold canned coffees alongside dozens of regional KitKat variants.
In Lisbon, it’s rows of tinned sardines and vacuum-sealed octopus. In Mexico City, it’s an explosion of chilli-dusted dried fruit and hot sauces that never make it to export.
The joy of the supermarket safari isn't finding luxury goods; it’s finding the extraordinary within the mundane.
The packaging typography, the regional dairy products, the weird layout choices, and even the discount stickers tell a vivid story about how people in that corner of the world live, work and eat on a random weekday night.
Why people are ditching restaurants for supermarket aisles
This shift isn't just about saving money, although rising travel costs play a role; it’s more about freedom.
Building a meal out of local bakery bread, regional cheeses, seasonal fruit and a bottle of inexpensive local wine to eat on a park bench feels personal.
It breaks the transactional cycle of traditional sightseeing. You aren't being served an experience; you are building it yourself.
Plus, supermarkets yield the single best souvenirs you can buy. A jar of local spice blend, a regional hot sauce or a bar of hyper-specific chocolate carries far more memory than a plastic key ring, and it actually gets used when you get home.
Guidelines for a proper supermarket safari
If you want to turn a routine trip into a proper safari, keep a few simple guidelines in mind:
- Seek out the independent regional chains: Avoid global giants. The smaller and more local the chain, the more distinctive the product selection.
- Prowl the perimeter: The bakery, cheese counter and fresh produce section reveal what’s currently in season and locally produced.
- Take the 50/50 gamble: Buy at least one item strictly based on the wrapper design, even if you can’t read the language. The best travel stories usually come from impulse buys.
- Check the expiration dates and customs rules: If you are buying edible souvenirs to take home, stick to shelf-stable, factory-sealed goods like dried spices, tins, chocolate or packaged coffee. Avoid fresh meats, fruits or unpasteurised dairy that could get confiscated at airport customs.
Travel has always been about curiosity, so the next time you find yourself in a new city, skip the travel recommendations for an hour. Go wander the aisles, watch what locals are putting in their trolley and discover a culture one snack at a time.
alyssia.birjalal@nationalmg.co.za