From Farmlands to Fish: The 3-Hour Grocery Run

When the idea of packing up our lives in Portland, Oregon a year ago to move to a small rural town in Minnesota came up, here’s what I thought about immediately (in this exact order):

1. Where is the nearest Asian grocery store?

2. How expensive will it be to fly out of the local airport?!

3. Oof…it’s going to be hard to be away from friends, family, and everything we’re used to in a city (food choices, culture, an international airport, etc.).

As I began cooking more of my cultural dishes as an adult, I realized something I had taken for granted as a kid: how my mom was able to cook and serve us delicious Lao and Thai food at home throughout my childhood… in a place over 8,000 miles away from her homeland. A place where some locals thought ketchup was too spicy.

Why didn't we clip and save this newspaper article? AHHHHH! Anyhow, my mom is a wonderful gardener and in our backyard she grew Thai chilis, garlic, Chinese cabbage, mint, and so many other herbs we couldn't find locally.

In those pre-internet days, you couldn’t just Google "Asian grocery near me." You had to rely on other immigrant families for crucial information. My earliest road trip memories weren’t vacation-related; they were trips to the nearest “big city” to shop at the Great Wall Oriental Food Store in Sioux City, IA — a 1.5-hour drive away. If we were lucky, we’d hit the mall, too!

The owner of the Great Wall Oriental Food Store in Sioux Falls, SD. Photo courtesy of the Sioux City Public Museum. They opened in 1985 and are still operating in the same location!

Now, rural living is my present-day reality, and I humbly find myself on similar highways, chasing down the same tastes of home. Once again, I’m driving three hours round trip to stock up on Asian groceries and, to be honest, to get a little dose of culture.

I absolutely LOVE international grocery stores. I’m the type that goes out of my way to tour them almost everywhere I travel, especially in foreign countries. Asian grocery stores are like a walk down memory lane for me: the spicy shrimp chips we’d share as a family on the way home, the oyster sauce brand with the Thai auntie on the label that my mom swears by, or the OG RedBull in the brown glass bottles that my dad would drink with a raw egg after working out. They will always feel like home to me. And the drive isn’t just about the groceries anymore — it’s a pilgrimage, a reconnection with my heritage.

So, where is my nearest Asian grocery store? The closest one is called Merciful International Market, and it’s only a 22-minute drive from me. It isn’t a full grocery store, but it does carry many go-to Asian brands I can’t find anywhere else nearby. I was THRILLED on so many levels to find this place so close. They opened in the spring of 2022 and it's owned by Dennis and Rose Musazazi. Dennis is originally from Uganda, and Rose is from the Philippines. They’ve lived in this area for over 10 years, and the store was named after their last name, which means “merciful” in Swahili.

Sadly, they announced last week that they’ll be closing the store at the end of the month due to personal reasons. Like many immigrant-owned stores, they opened Merciful Market because they craved the food from their home countries and wanted to make it more accessible for folks in the area. They also hoped to share their food and culture with the local community.

Outside of Merciful Market, the next option for a more complete shopping experience — with a bigger selection of produce, meat, and frozen foods — is Viet-Tien International Market in Waite Park, MN. It’s a three-hour round trip for me. The owners are from Long Xuyen, a small village in southern Vietnam, and they immigrated to the U.S. in 1994. Every time we shop there, the clerk gives us free items, knowing we’ve driven quite a distance to stock up. ❤️

Only last week did I discover another gem nearby — VK Caribbean Groceries, just a few minutes down the road from Merciful Market in Brainerd, MN. I’m low-key ashamed I didn’t know about it sooner (especially since I pride myself on being a pretty good internet sleuth). I stopped by and met one of the owners, Veron Whyte, who graciously took the time to chat with me. The store is owned by Veron and his wife, Kim, Jamaican immigrants who came to the area for work and fell in love with this part of Minnesota. Like the owners of Merciful Market, they opened their store to give the local community (and themselves) a taste of their Jamaican culture.

VK Caribbean Groceries is located at 422 Charles St in Brainerd, MN and is open Mon-Sat from 10AM-6PM. Make sure to stop by if you're in the area!

So, whether it’s 1985 or 2024, some journeys never get shorter. But with every trip, I’m reminded that the drive to keep my traditions alive is always worth it. And yes, I’ll be hitting the road again soon — fish sauce doesn’t restock itself!

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