Tropical Foods

For my "Computers in Nutrition Education" Class I had to design a website based on some nutrition topic. Mine was on, "Eating Healthy on a Budget" (Feel free to check out my website... keep in mind it was built completely from scratch and this was my first building of anything.... )

Whenever I talked about my website project to J. His response was always, "How to eat healthy on a budget? Shop at Tropical Foods!" Some of the lowest priced groceries in Boston, and lots of tropical produce, spices and odd cuts of meat that you cannot find anywhere else in Boston.

After listening to him constantly chattering on and on about Tropical Foods, his Family's business, the other day after walking to the Animal Rescue League, to do my birdie research, I decided to walk to nearby Roxbury to check out this grocery store for myself.

I felt like a bit of a creeper taking pictures in the grocery store,... I got a couple weird looks from the employees and other costumers, but I got a few!

Their produce section was quite something, they had all of the normal - produce: apples, bananas, lettuce, and whatnot, as well as tons of more ethnic foods, such as ripe and green plantains, a very large variety of yams/ yucas/ other unknown root vegetables like these:



And of course, they had my favorite section of any grocery store: the discount produce section! One of the items in the discount section was this guy:


I have no idea what it is, nor could I find a description of it anywhere,.... but it was on clearance!

They also had the most amazing array of spices, marinades, oils and hot sauces I have ever seen.



Of course a long with their healthy produce, they also sell a variety of unhealthy treats, such as some delicious (??) pork rinds:


Their meat selection was very extensive and scary (to me...) They even sell conch meat, which apparently is very popular (it honestly just reminds me of Lord of the Flies.)

I was especially excited to hear an advertisement over the interc0m for Pizza Wine while I was in the store! Too funny...

J. was very excited that I actually ventured out to Tropical Foods. Apparently most of his friends are too scared to travel out to Roxbury (It really wasn't all that scary.) As a sign of his appreciation for my business, I received my very own Tropical Foods sweatshirt!




So if you are trying to eat healthy on a budget, or looking for some specific ethnic foods, check out Tropical Foods in Roxbury!

Produce Presents!

A friend of mine works at Tropical Foods in Roxbury, which is basically a wholesale specialty store for mainly Latin and African foods. The other day he brought me presents from there, including:

A Yuca

Some Plantains,

and Pizza Wine (legit that's the name... apparently wine that goes well with pizza)!

I had never tried yucca before, but I have been curious to give it a try, so when it happens to be delivered to my kitchen I had no further excuses! I knew Elizabeth had tried it before and blogged about it, with a poor review, however, through talking to fans of yuca it but perhaps the prep was the problem. According to J. you have to cook it with lots of butter, salt, pepper and garlic (which is the Cuban way of cooking the plant)--- which clearly is not the way we nutrition people think to cook a veggie! But i figured for my first yuca experience I might as well go all out.



So: I peel, cut and boiled the root for about 20 minutes. Then I mixed in some Smart Balance Light (which I am not a huge fan of, but it happened to be in my refrigerator.), some salt, pepper and garlic.


The result = Nomnomnom! Delicious. It was very similar to a potato, though it had a slightly more starchy texture. I was afraid I hadn't cooked it long enough because it had areas that were more white and powdery looking than others, but it all tasted good and was tender. I think I went a little heavy on the garlic, but that could easily be adjusted.

Along with my yuca, I baked up some frozen broccoli and mixed peppers, along with some extra firm tofu. I drizzled balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and a bit of salt and pepper on them. I will have to thank Jessica for the idea of baked broccoli with balsamic vinegar.



Overall a phenomenal, easy to make meal.