I made my first visit to a US grocery store on Sunday and got the biggest culture shock so far. Everything was different enough that it’s going to take me at least twice as long as usual just to work my way around the products; even with familiar brands the packaging is different enough to make me look twice. Two products that threw me were tomatoes and coffee. In the UK, you go to the veg aisle and the tinned tomatoes are predominately that – tomatoes in tins. There’s s separate sauce section and a few purees. Here, the majority of the tins are sauce or puree – the tomatoes are not so common and way more expensive. Looking for coffee, there was mainly beans and less preground. I found out that the tin packaging needed opening with a tin opener at 7am in the morning – not the best time for me to be surprised.