11 Weird Things in the Czech Supermarket
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 มิ.ย. 2024
- Get an exclusive @Surfshark deal! Enter promo code HONESTGUIDE to get 6 additional months for free at surfshark.deals/honestguide
Get SECRET MAP with TIPS for Prague here ➡️ / honestguide
Honest Guide 📸 / realhonestguide
Janek 🎤 / janekrubes
Honza 🎥 / honzamikulka
Facebook 👥 / honestpragueguide
The music used in this video 🎵 bit.ly/HonestMusic
Need to boost your videos? 🎬 bit.ly/HonestFilmmakersAssets
0:00 Intro
0:27 Fresh In-Store Bakery
1:08 One Product, Two Languages
2:34 Champagne for Kids
3:42 Absinth?
4:17 SurfsharkVPN (partner of the video)
5:29 Beer for 50 ¢
6:21 Non-alcoholic Beer
7:32 Spa Water in a Bottle
8:28 Sojový suk
9:48 Smelly Cheese
10:51 Czech Word
Thank you for your support!
Janek Rubeš & Honza Mikulka, Prague based journalists
#HonestGuide - บันเทิง
Get an exclusive Surfshark deal! Enter promo code HONESTGUIDE to get up to 6 additional months for free at surfshark.deals/honestguide
sojovy suk roughly translates to "Soy Knot". A "suk" being commonly used to define a wood knot (the circular branch stem in a board, or the general cylindrical shape that wood knots have) which if you pull out of a wood piece will roughly look just like a sojovy suk. I'm guessing that's where the name comes from.
New Jersey where im from has the strongest liquor licenses requiremets in the US neighboring PA has alcohol in gas(Petrol) stations
Hi guys, i really enjoy your videos and you do amazing work. I come from Serbia and i've been to Prague two times and fell in love with the city. I plan of going back again and again but there is one thing i usually look for when i visit some place. I'm really into music and i would like to know if there is a chance for you guys to cover some alternative music scene. I'm sure you guys have a lots of bands bit some kind of interview or a concert visit would be great. Which ones are the great places to visit for alternative/underground music maybe etc.. maybe a top 10 list of albums in Cech republic (that you must listen before you die:) This is a question for you or any Chech person that reads the commments. Google is not really the best place i can rely on cause it gives mostly commercial names but i'm looking for more underdog music scene. Huge pozdrav from Serbia!
Sojový suk is like marzipan made from soya. And jesenka isn't dried milk but it is condensed milk/cream.
0:33 The only bizarre thing you didn't mention - it's that anyone can touch the bread and the sweet part and then you can put it back on the table - sneeze, cough...
Janku, takový drobný postřeh - Jesenka, piknik a pikao nejsou "dried milk" ale "condensed (and sweetened) milk". Sušené mléko existuje taky, ale to je v prášku - v podstatě Sunar.
The 4 "must buy" in a Czech supermarket for me:
1. Kofola classic
2. a local beer
3. the newest Birell Beer-Lemonade mix (they taste really good and helped me already to avoid a hangover, esp. when you drink it before you go to bed 😉)
4. A unknown but weirdly cheep candy (also often that waffle-chocolate-bars for less then 10Kc). Next time I look for Sojovy Suk 😁!
Greetings from Germany!
Tatranky or horalky waffles
The inspiration for one of our most popular summer drinks - Birell, was the Bavarian radler, so thank you Germany!
@@kgilich Birell has nothing to do with Bavarian Radler. Its just (a very good) non alcoholic Pilsen. Radler is a beer/ citon lemonade mix
@@wernerleinberger9847 You're partly right. Birell also makes unflavored non-alcoholic beer (several varieties including IPA and it's very good). But it also makes a large number of non-alcoholic radlers, and here in the Czech Republic the word Birell is often used as a slang term for non-alcoholic radler :) We even have those fruity flavours on tap in almost every pub.
@@kgilich no difference, but remember: A Bavarian Radler is half beer and half citron lemonade. Yes, BAVARIAN RADLER IS WITH ALCOHOL (reduced). BIRELL IS NEVER WITH ALCOHOL.
The best candy bar I've ever eaten is Kofila! I love it, it has very strong yet sweet coffee flavor.
For Americans, the biggest surprise takes place at the cashiers. There are no baggers putting the groceries into the bag for you at the cashier. You are expected to do it yourself, while also handling the payment etc. It tends to become quite hectic in some stores. We are used to it, but Americans are always surprised.
It's really a weird idea to let someome pack it for you, because they can't know how you want to pack it, they don't know if you are there by walk or by bike or by car and in each case, you will pack it differently, you don't want to pay for some "packer person" when you will put it to a backpack later and throw their 10 plastic bags to a dust bing, it's really a weird ide. It could maybe work in some hypermarkets next to highway where everyone goes by car, but nowhere else.
no groceries have baggers these days save some places like Trader Joes, and moreover most places you have to bring your own bags (a la Aldi) I can't imagine having to bag your own groceries would throw off anyone
@@Pidalin Lol They're Americans. They go by CAR. exclusively ;-)
I've never seen a grocery bag packer here in Norway, or anywhere in Europe
As an America, this varies by store in the US. Some have a dedicated bagger such as Kroger or Jewel, others have the cashier bag such Walmart or Meijers (these are not dedicated grocery stores but mass merchandisers with grocery sections equal to dedicated grocery stores) or places like Kroger or Jewel during slow hours, others do have you bag such as Aldi. I should note that "bargain" grocery stores also have you bag you groceries such as Food 4 Less which is owned by Kroger. Plus with self checkouts taking over like a plague we are being forced ring up our items and bag them on top of providing payment -- Walmart is the worse for this. The Americans who travel overseas have more disposable income so they will primarily shop at the dedicated grocery stores and are more likely to frequent the high end ones (such as Mariano's which is owned by Kroger) which are even less likely to have you bag your items. One last thing, my examples are from the American Midwest near Chicago; store brands and their services (such as bagging) will vary by Region.
@@RegulareoldNorseBoy I know and that's exactly the reason why they don't pack it for you in europe. It could kind of work here in a little town where most of people shop with car, but even here, there is still a lot of people who go on bike or just walk. When supermarket is like 5-10 minuts walk from your home and you need something not that big and heavy, it's kind of ridiculous for me to just think about going there by car. In these days, I mostly order heavier things online and they put it into box which is at gas station like 300 m from my home, so I really don't need a car at all. All heavy things like fridges, washing machines etc...you mostly order oline and they bring it to your home in these days, only redneck villagers go to an electro shop and then mount it on the roof of their cars and drive with that like an idiots. 😀
"Their language is just slightly off" 🤣 that burn
Unnecessary
In Latvia you often have products with Estonian and Lithuanian names on them since we are small countries and product is sold in all of them. Used to be lot more Russian naming also but due to politics there are much less products also exported to Russian speaking markets
So we went to the Baltics last fall. It is standard practice for my wife and I to browse a local supermarket to find something that we don't have -- but should have -- back home. We actual found quite a few items but the gem was mushroom-flavored potato chips. 👍
Yes, and on Pilsener Urquell is the german name Pilsener Urquell, because a lot of this beer is sold in Germany 🤫😄😄😄
Also works for nordic countires, there will be 4 names on the product package.
I spent a month in Tartu last summer and most products in the supermarket didn't have any English labels. I learned basic Estonian there, but I was lucky enough to know some Russian because I found that language almost everywhere
I love the supermarkets in Riga, often wander in them with my Latvian gf and she’s always surprised with my fascination.
I actually like Sojovy Suk. It's kinda like marzipan (texture and that vanilla like flavour) and not so sweet.
When I (grandchild of Czech grandparents but from Germany) go on a Czech supermarket spree, it's always Slovak cheeses, Niva spread, rohliky, Kofola, Jesenka, Fidorka, Studentska, Sojovy Suk and Pernik. You could have also mentioned Karlovarske oplatky and Mattoni ;)
I see you are man of refined tastes, you've earned the sympathies of a Czech man!
PS.: Yours and ours beers are the best so cheers!
Studentská chocolate bars
@@linogalveias Yes, with the nuts and raisins.
@@Seawater195 Austria, Poland and Belgium make good beer too; even Serbia!
@@linogalveias I always found the one from the company Orion. Is there any other company producing it?
8:41 Spíše by jsi měl cizincům vysvětlit proč v supermarketech u nás se objevují na cedulkách produktu dvě a někdy i tři cenovky, a která z nich ve skutečnosti na kase platí. Zrovna tady není cena 20 centů (5,90) ale ta vyšší 12,90 protože asi nemají zrovna nějakou tu kartičku. A co se týká té basy piva, tak tam se platí záloha nejen za sklo, ale i za přepravku.
Ono vůbec české cenovky by možná zabraly celou epizodu. Mimo změněného dále občas využívám, že je na nich EAN, protože v obchodech (za mě hlavně Globus, poslední dobou ale i Lidl) je v regálech chaos. Nebo novinka posledních let - nejnižší cena za 30 dnů. Nebo super věc - cena za měrnou jednotku. To tuším také všude nemají.
@@mikiqex cenu za měrnou jednotku dneska už musejí udávat všude
When i go to czech supermarkets a few things are always on my bucket list: 1. Rohlik, kind of a roll. You can eat it with everything and its a super cheap czech basic. You can even start fire with it. It is so interessting how czech people pick up products with the simple hand in the bakery dept 😂 2. Kofola, not everyone likes it, kind of a Fanta Story but in this case with lack of original Coca-Cola in the communist era 3. Utopence in Glass, best to Beer 4. Yes Birell is great, love also polotmavy. 5. I always buy special czech beer latest one cerna barbora 6. Horcice / Mustard. The best is the one in the cheapest plastic, all czechs know what i mean 7. The big variety of "pomazanka" esp. the ones with garlic or eggs 8. Garlic Chips, i ve never seen in another country, they are so good, but you smell like hell 9. Yes also Olomouc tvaruzky, also in different varities. The original is named Olmützer Quargel and it is nearly the same like german Harzer Roller... and in the End a typical word in czech with german origin: Gsindl like Gesindel = rabble
You are supposed to use gloves or some picking tool which they mostly have, but everyone is lazy to do that, you are mostly trying to not touch other breads or rolls when you do it by your hands, but some redneck villagers can be really disgusting and when you see them, you think that we should maybe also force some other way how to pick bakery. It happened to me in Vienna that I grabbed a bread with my hands and someone started yelling to me that I can't do it like that. 😀 But when it's something soft, like with a jam or something on it, like koláče, it can be pretty hard to grab it with some pliers.
Bro, you forgot the Klobasa! 😉
Garlic chips is fine, but chips with mustard is just vile. We could not even go through a single bag of it.
@@beckerskarl Have them here in Germany... try them, than decide 👍
I love Cerna barbora too :) this beer is so delicious! :)
I remember the gum cigarettes, I loved them but they were so rare to come across.
I also remember chocolate cigarettes
You can still buy it in Poland. It's called _Johny bee bubble gum powder effect_ if you're feeling nostalgic.
In Brazil we head little cigarette shaped chocolates, it was also banned because it could encourage kids to smoke
Yes so do i we got them in Poland when i was young @@iglhamm
In Finland we had chocolate cigarettes 😅 just like them, wrapped in a paper that looked like a cigarette.
US States have different alcohol laws per state. In many states, you can buy all your alcohol in the grocery store. One of the first things I check out when visiting a new country is the grocery stores. In my experience, there's very little difference overall with the basic products or how they're operated. The region specific products are where the fun begins.
A lot of the similarity is probably because many grocery stores are owned by the same large multinationals. Walmart, Aldi, Carrefour, Lidl, Tesco, SPAR, etc.
@@joshzytkiewicz Thankfully, no Walmart operated businesses in Europe yet (well, maybe in UK)
Same with European countries.
Not just by state btw, the city I live in bans the sale of hard liquor anywhere but a liquor store. So you can get liquor at Costco, Walmart & grocery stores that are one town over but not the ones inside city limits
@@koobs4549 dry counties...
Okay but I think Czech CHEESE is UNDERRATED.
I love Olomoucké tvarůžky and Hermelin
everything about our country is underrated unfortunetly, the remminiscance of the cold war
@@user-hm9is5ke9i Karlovy vary is really cool
@@user-hm9is5ke9i I travel the whole country and discover a great heritage
@@user-hm9is5ke9i Tourists do not ruin country, immigrants do. And natives. Like the ones making "traditional trdelník" instead of 20 other real regional pastries. Or the ones who allowed WCdonalds to city centers.
Everything Slavic European is underrated. All hams, truffles, olive oils, cheeses, wines...even whole recipes were mostly invented by Slavs and branded as western European achievement. Even people, literature, art, science...
Sójový suk is the best autism friendly candy. It taste always the same, always kinda like a dry wall, never over the top when it comes to flavour or texture. I honestly love it. It is not healthy at all but it is one of the best autism comfort food/candy ever made.
I think that first non alcoholic beer in Czech(oslovakia) was Pito, but Birrell is much more popular.
Pito was popular among drivers in soviet era (PIvo - stands for beer, auTO - stands for a car)
damn I forgot pito existed
@@tvojemaslothat name is hilarious. In Communist East Germany, they actually developed the first German non-alcoholic beer, and they called it Aubi, short for Autofahrerbier, lit. car driver‘s beer. From what I read, it was actually more popular among steel factory workers than car drivers, not unlike Czech glass blowers can still drink low-alcohol beer on the job.
@ it still exists
@@spineal its actually right next to brown birell here 6:56
No way! I love sojový suk! I buy those by hundreds😂
I've been here for three years (from UK) and still, the weirdest thing about the Czech supermarkets is that there will be a section for cheese, ham and sausages. You think "oh, that's a pretty small selection" and make a purchase anyway. Continue around the shop with your trolley... Oh, another section of different cheeses, hams and sausages. Continue again, and yep, you've guessed it, yet another section haha.
And then you continue and see butcher section, also selling wheels of cheese :D
Sojovy suk is the best!!!
It is very hard to describe because there’s nothing quite like it. The texture is very similiar to play dough that has dried up just a little bit and it’s still soft. The taste is coconut forward with a rum essence, but very subtle. Overall I love it so much and I think that it’s very unique. For the price definitely worth trying even if you end up not liking it.
I just want to try that dried milk sucky thing. Everything else was 100% normal.
It's awesome
There are actually 3 types of them, one of them is chocolade called Pikao and everyone is sucking it. 😀 But it's quite expensive these days.
It's the best thing ever, definitely give it a shot.
This is addictive 😂 We also have this condensed milk with sugar things in France, small portion for children, with chocolate or vanilla or strawberry flavour, or big unflavoured 300g ones for cooking.
The chocolate one, Pikao is kinda similar to Hersheys sirup in my opinion. Only difference between them is that Pikao is not so liquidy.
I really loved this episode. I appreciate you showing us around a Czech supermarket and so many interesting things! As a tourist, it would feel really overwhelming to shop in a supermarket for the locals.
About the bakery and "fresh pastries" - sure, it's much better than the pre-packaged stuff, but most times, it's nowhere near fresh - it's prebaked, deep frozen, then reheated in-store :)
Depends on store.Some of them have "real" bakeries.
You could mention Vinea - the wine grapes soda drink. It can be white or red (which is my favourite).
I like Frizzante, it's not that sweet and to me tastes like a sweet(est) white wine, only without alcohol. There's also Top Topic, but it's too sweet for me.
Your language is slightly off... Greetings from Slovakia! :D :D :D
4:45 - Those sites are blocked because they would need to coply with GDPR and since they are mainly targeted for US customers, they just dont bother with making the site compliant.
which is good
It's like a spinoof of most beglian supermarkets. Love that you brought up the smelly cheese. 1 small difference is that in Belgium. The beer section is ussually more limited and if you want something specific or fancy. You're better of going to a drinkscentral.
Wine on the other hand gets a full row in almost all supermarkets except the cheaper ones like Aldi and Lidl.
I'd love to see Czechia, so I'm gonna plan it for next year. Cheerz
As a Praguer I can confirm that Belgium is for Czechs weirdly similar in many ways but it's hard to describe. Our cuisine is partly German/Austrian, partly Italian and partly French. We love all kinds of meat with a stew and something fried with it. We love seafoods although they are not fresh here (due to CZ being a landlocked country). Oddly enough, Polish cuisine feels much more off than Belgian. Also the Beer culture is similar. Nowadays many Czech breweries try to make their own Witbiers. For historical reasons, Czechs are not really French lovers but they somehow like Belgium (apart for some weird anti-EU nationalists).
I remember when I first moved here in 1991, I went to the supermarket and asked for otec (father) instead of ocet (vinegar). The lady there had no idea what I was asking her for.
I was teaching English in a motorcycle factory in Strakonice for a year and a half and sometimes I would end the lesson with my advanced students by going to the grocery store and they would tell me what things were. They really enjoyed those kinds of hands on exercises, and it helped me too...
Now it is often evident by the packaging, but back then the packaging lacked any identifying features. But I had to go to the self-service shops (samoobsluha) where I could pick and choose, because the other option was a shop where everything was behind the counter, and you had to tell the person working there what you wanted, pay for it, and then they would give it to you. When my Czech wasn't very good, it was not easy to shop there...
I also loved going to the deli and getting one of the many mayonnaise-based salads, like my favourite Vlassky salat or simply Vlasak! Yum.
I'm from Germany, so the differences to Czech supermarkets are not that big. It's still fun to shop at our neighbors.
That tube with dried milk? Does it have a chocolate milk flavor, too? We had that in Germany when I was a kid 40 years ago and I've been hoping for something similar ever since!
And I will definitely try the weird candy roll, the Absinth mints and especially the smelly cheese. It's called Harzer here and I'm a fan. I'm interested if there are any differences.
Oh, and I've been to the exact same Tesco ;)
Yes and it is called Pikao 😊
@@TheHansel35 Great, can't wait to get it on our next visit!
Actualy there are three classical kinds in CZ: Piknik-condensed sweet milk, Jesenka-condensed sweet cream, Pikao-condensed sweet milk with kakao. 🙂
Do people really think that Harzer is a smelly cheese? I find it doesn't smell at all or just a little bit but you need to go very close with your nose. A smelly cheese would be Limburger/Romadur for example.^^
really, belguim here, and i was really surprised ... by that milk thing, the 'tasteless' candy bar, and only the idea of big PLASTIC beer bottles? and what was that abscent like tasting thing exactly? :D
so no, at least half was not general for an 'european supermarket' , but the fresh bread certainly is! :)
“Fresh” bread is made of frozen dough, all the markets do is bake them
some supermarkets in poland and ukraine actually make a fresh dough for their breds
Yes, but it's still much much better and "fresh" than what supermarkets have in villages or little towns, you can't even imagine what shits they sell our of big cities with their hypermarket bakeries. Even vietnamese little shops have mostly better bread.
Unless you go to Globus.
Not in Globus supermarket. They really bake everything in the house. Its more expensive, but really worth it.
It depends. Simple things are made on site, like bread and things like that. More complicated stuff are frozen, but still better than if they made it off site and ship it
The weirdest thing for me is always the sweets section with so many things we don't have in Austria. I always buy some of them when I'm in Czechia, even though most of them are not that good. The rest is pretty similar to home for me.
If you're into sweets, I know tourists come for Pedro.
The first thing (as a swiss) I go to in an austrian supermarket is going to the mustard section then go buy some krakauer and semmeln and not to forget Almdudler, and oh did I mention Käsekrainer?. Every country in Europe has stuff you will not get at home (and you probably would not buy at home because it is related to the country and it is special to you when you are there) 😊
@herbie1975 Yes, putting cheese into sausages is really typical Austrian. When I lived in London for some time, I always brought my Käswurst. I think the staff at the airport did already know me for that 😂
And yes, when in Czech Republic I also always have to check out the sweets.
lol we're from Brno and we occasionally drive to Vienna to pick up some groceries and candy. Groceries because there is a difference in freshness. Funny you do it the other way around!
@jpkral There are always things which are better/cheaper/worse/more expensive in other countries. So whenever travelling and you have some space available, always check the local supermarkets.
For example I just bought a few kg of Thuna in France. Great local quality and way cheaper. And easy to carry by car.
That cheese is actually pretty amazing. In Austria, we use cheese like that to melt it with butter and milk and season it with caraway to turn it into a cheese spread, makes it even more aromatic and intense, and absolutely delicious.
That sounds very familiar! We also turn them into spreads. My favourite method is cutting them up into small cubes, putting them into a jar and covering with heavy cream. That's it, now you let them hang out in the fridge and after a few days, just mix it up and your spread is ready. Enjoy it with caraway and some raw onions!
@@kralevic3297 whoa, that sounds amazing. Does the cheese spread have any particular name so that I can google it to find out more about it?
jeez, you need hazmat suit for cooking, right? 👀😁
@@RandomTheories not at all. The pungency of this cheese is overstated, in my opinion. Or maybe it‘s just something you get used to when you grow up with it. In any case, I always found it to be absolutely delicious.
You unlocked some German 90s childhood memories with Robby Bubble and bubble gum cigarettes
Having lived in Andel, this supermarket is dear to me... the Nostalgia of buying a couple (Often 4-6) Litres of Kozel, and cracking them when I got to Lake Dzban was a memory I'll cherish for the rest of my days.
4-6 litres of Kozel at Džbán sounds like a pretty good chillout! :D
Sweetened milk paste in a tube? Genius! I really like exploring European markets.
Nestle does it too. But I'm not sure that it's exactly the same. I never tried the Czech tube.
But don’t buy it from Nestle. Nestle is evil,
The "Kids champagne" is already banned in Lithuania.
For me the weirdest ever thing I've seen in any supermarket in the world, is that weird rabbit shaped piece of ham they sell in the Czech Republic during easter season.
We have same return of empty bottle and cutter bread here in Sweden and we had chocolate cigarets but not longer. So it is similar Sweden and czech
Yes, and we have Pommac in Champagne bottle.
The bread cutters I think you will find in german named stores, I am not sure about ICA, WILLYS, HEMKÖP and so on. Please correct if wrong.
I am totally missing your Surstromming fish cans here in CZ!!! And all the tubes with all the spreads in it, which are great for hikers. Here they really have only this condensed milks.
I’m American and all the grocery stores sell fresh baked bread/pastries and they are all great. It’s not rare for most of the US to have a fresh bakery section in the US
This guy has only been to NYC and probably not the whole city just the tourist spots…. I think I need to make a TH-cam channel debunking Europeans!!
Yeah, i don't know why Europeans think we don't have bakeries in supermarkets? At our supermarkets, you can purchase basically anything. My local supermarket carries guns, live lobster, tools, exotic goods/fruit, theres a pharmacy, a hardware store, butcher, deli, optometrist, car service, restaurant, and i live in a rural town of about 8k people.
4:09 "Here there's only one bottle of absinthe. In the city center, it's the other way around. So no, Czechs do not drink absinthe" I love that kinda of cultural insight, so thanks for the episode (looks like absinthe is just another tourist trap)!
I remember an article written by a veteran traveler (Mr. Miles) saying that "going into a supermarket is like going into someone's house", since it tells you what people are buying (and even how often they're buying each thing, if you take the available quantities into account - just like you did with absinthe!). He also recommended (though it's probably outdated advice nowadays) to buy a newspaper (even if you don't understand the language), since it can give you a good idea of what kinda information people care about (depending on how long each section is, for example).
8:46 "Sójový suk" translates to "soy knot", but I've found it referred to as "soybean bar". The usage of "suk" as "knot" seems to specifically refer to "tree knot" (the base of a tree branch), so it looks like the candy is called that way because it resembles a tree knot.
9:24 The hašlerky coincidence (the fact it tastes like absinthe) is very amusing. The herb you mentioned is anise (anýz in Czech), and it is indeed a common ingredient of both.
When I am abrouad I use to wandering through the supermarkets. It is really interesting insight into peoples fridges :)
2:49 omg it is like champomy we have it in portugal and if your oarents allowed you to serve this in your birthday party, you would be considered the coolest kid on earth❤
It is a apple juice that has gas (like a coca cola) to make it look like wine.
For obvious reasons, parents avoid buying this😂
I LOVE watching grocery store videos from around the world. THANKS for yours.
Regarding supermarkets and alcohol in the US, what you commented on was in New Jersey. While we have states that have regulated alcohol to only be sold in specific stores or even state-owned stores (I believe Utah is similar with New Jersey in that respect), most states allow supermarkets to sell alcohol in the same manner as the Chech stores. I live in Arizona, and all of our grocery stores have at least one isle dedicated to alcohol. Same for our neighbor to the west of us, California. And a lot of states also allow for alcohol to be sold in convenience stores, like the little outlets that are part of gas stations.
As for alcohol being sold in grocery stores or not depends on which US state you are in. Some states, as was mentioned, sell alcohol only in state ran liquor stores. But most US states allow liquor to be sold in grocery stores.
And the European country you go too.
In Sweden we have a governmental alcohol monopoly that means that there is almost no alcohol in normal stores.
@@ludwig2345 Oh, interesting. I visited Sweden several years ago. But stayed with friends, so didn’t need to go shopping for groceries. I have lived in Poland since 2013. It is like most states in the US, selling alcohol in grocery stores. But for many years we lived in a county of Kentucky USA, that was considered a "dry" county, meaning no alcohol was allowed to be sold at all in that county. I went grocery shopping at the next county over.😉
Beer and wine, yes, but not hard alcohol. I would be surprised if there are places in the US where you could buy a bottle of whisky or vodka in a grocery store. Any good sized grocery store in CZ is stocked with as much hard alcohol as you would find in a small liguor store in the States.
@@upstatenydude8322 I was born and raised in Southern California. You can buy hard liquor in the grocery stores there. According to a newspaper article, in many of the 50 US states you can buy hard alcohol in grocery stores. From the article "There is no common rule across the United States on whether alcohol can be sold in grocery stores. Whether hard liquor can be sold in grocery stores usually depends on whether the state is a "control" state. That means state governments control the wholesale retail of distilled spirits and, in some cases, wine and beer. According to the National Beverage Control Association, 17 states fall into the "control" category, and in 13 of those, the government controls retail sales for off-premises consumption, meaning there are state-owned or state-designated liquor stores. Many states have moved to expand what can be sold in grocery stores to include beer and wine, but only 21 states allow the sale of hard alcohol outside liquor stores". I have been to Prague half a dozen times and have lived in Poland for over ten years and yes, hard alcohol is sold in grocery stores in these places. The Kaufland near my apartment has a great selection, even carrying my favorite scotches.🥃
The fish salad in the deli freaked us out🤣 also, the anchovies that are rolled up with capers inside, they freak my family out, but I love them👍😂
I LOVE the way you film and present your content! You are my happy place. Always a little smirk with all that funny/serious information.
Love from Sweden
inventing the 0.0 beer was a stroke of genius
I don't remember bubblegum cigarettes in Belgium, but we definately had chocolate cigarettes. The chocolate was generally horrible though.
Well, the bubble gum wasn't great either, it was mostly so hard that you felt like breaking your teeth and after few chews the taste was gone. So basically seems like both the chocolate and chew tasted like, cigarettes ( pretty bad ) .
Back in the day in the UK, we had chocolate sticks that looked like cigarettes that are no longer available
someone here said that they still have them in Belgium
I remember them and most the time we ate them in the paper because peeling the paper off was a pain😂
@@leearblaster8127 exactly 😀
Thanks for this enjoyable and informative video! I've been to Prague six times, but I've never been in a Czech grocery store!
2:13 This map is broken! There is Poland instead of the Czech Republic.
We have been to Prague a number of times but mainly focused on the pubs & the Absinthe shops. Will have a ‘proper’ look at the supermarkets next time. Big cheers from Melbourne 🍺🥂🍷!
I was in Czechia long ago and a friend ordered olomuc in a pub...I will never forget the smell and the fact that it was delivered under a cloche.
well you dont wanna chase guests away from entire pub...
0:27 it can't legally be called *bakery* if it doesn't bake the products from ingredients on location! It's just _oven_ that *defrosts* (an unpackaged bakery product that the operator has frozen in a finished state but is offered to the consumer in a thawed state), finishes by baking *from a chilled semi-product* or finishes by baking *from a frozen semi-product* (a bakery product produced elsewhere than in a bakery by baking from pre-baked chilled or frozen semi-finished product).
It's usually like that but not always. For example, the so-called "hypermarkets" have sometimes their actual bakeries such as Tesco Extra at Prague Eden. Some big Alberts do also have their in-store bakery, not only an oven.
usually breads are always in house baked and if they only have defrosting baking they only sell packaged breads
defrost is quite inadequate. If you only defrost them they will be raw. I experienced wrong "recipe" and we need to ask central for new one, because our pastries were raw inside (it was T... Supermarket). But it is not only chain ever existed.
Our classics when on visit in CZ are venečky kakaové and oplátky čokoládové. Although these last ones are getting more expensive on every visit. I remember them long ago costing around Kčs 15 for 10 pieces in a luxurious metal box, now almost Kč 70 for 5 pieces. But we and our kids still love them. And of course a fresh koláč!
Kolac and Oplatky are great, thats true. Yes, they getting more and more expensive. Problem is Czech Korun... Word of the year is "nutela" in CZ, google why?
@@wernerleinberger9847 Because Czech Prime Minister Fiala went to Germany for cheap shopping and was surprised that Nutella is cheaper in Germany than in the Czech Republic. Now the prime minister in CZ is nicknamed Mr. Nutella.
I like that Olomoucký tvarůžek cheese as well. It is called Quargel here in Austria and you can also buy it in every supermarket. And yes, don't go on a date after eating it 😅.
Btw. what I missed on your list are the Marlenka cakes. I think they are really special and I love them. When taking the CZ I love to eat them. I just try to avoid buying them in the supermarket, since someone told me, that those 800g packages are not 1 person serving packages 🫣
Yes, the original name is: Olmützer Quargel 👍
Actualy you are right, its not cheese but quark.🙂
Marlenka is very good... but its a kind of Trdelnik Story. Its not originally CZ. Its an old Armenian Family Receipe. Its also mentioned on the package. Only the Fabrication is in Czech-Silesia
Indeed, 800g is not one man serving. They sell 1000g for a reason. Now, did you know they are making 3 kinds? One is the traditional, second is with a bit of cacao on top and third one uses apricot jam inside the cream.
But if you are weak and failure as a man, the cakes last a few days opened, just keep them in fridge and covered.
@Pyrochemik007 Did not know the apricot jam one. But original vs cacao I go for original.
2:57 We do have Robby Bubble in Germany too!
What a coincidence when mostly german supermarkets sell it here. 😀
About the champagne for kids - I remembered as kid it was only for NY and it was awesome to have some process of drinking of special beverage just like an adult. And it was sweet, so double cool.
But now I adore that in Latvia we have special non alcoholic sparkling beverage that looks not like those crazy-pink-too-much-sweet-for-kids-lemonades, but interesting sparkling drink in a champagne bottle - it's Mežezers from Livonia, that makes it from apple and other juices, makes its taste balanced (not too much sweet or too much sour), but interesting and sparkly. I bring it to all party's, because there's always someone driving and it definitely expands the experience of drinking in a company ❤️
Nice video with a wink, thank you. Much of this can also be found in other European supermarkets. A big difference to a German supermarket, however, is the open bread and baked goods. For hygiene reasons, in Germany you can only find this behind folding plexiglass compartments or with splash guards. Which is better when I think of some Alberts in Prague...
Yeah, I totally agree. I am a local, and when i see some people handling the baked goods and then putting it back, or doing something unhygienic, i would love at least some plexiglass to be there.
Fresh in-store bakery that makes most, if not all, things from frozen semi-product that they either overbake or defrost in the store 😁 There's hardly any real fresh product in those aisles, though there are some, very rare, exceptions, like Globus and some things in Albert Hypermarkets (but not Supermarkets, to make things more confusing). But in most cases, there's nothing "fresh" about those "freshly baked products". It's just a customer trap in most cases. One that you should actually mention, Janek.
True, I was also a bit shocked that he praised this stuff. You can't compare the taste to fresh products from a real bakery.
Love such insights.
Fully agree! And it''s totally unhygienic to keep all those breads and bakery items out on the open - in every season. I've witnessed every time that people are touching the items with their bare hands, not using the fork or the plastic gloves. Very disgusting. I have never bought anything from those shelves, and the best breads are usually found in some Italian or Balkan shops and bakeries in Prague.
They are maybe defrost but also undervalued.
We can get "Kozel", beer, here in Canada also, along with "Pilsner Urquell", and some other Czech brands. In Canada and in the US, genuine "Budweiser", is labled as "Czechvar". We have family members that send us "Haslerky", they're good. Is there a checkout at that store that takes cash?
Yes, most self-cashiers have both options, but you can also find card-only ones.
@@robinsebelova7103 Thank you for the response. My family is from the Czech Republic, I've visited a few times. I've been to the mall, at Smichov, it's a nice mall.
Cash and Card you can easily use both. Come to Europe 👍
All shops according the law in Czech Republic have to accept cash, so don´t worry. And in most of Czech supermarket you can pay with two currencies (Czech Crown and Euro)
Weird fact about 6:21: There's a non-alcoholic sparkling drink in Greece called "Μπυράλ", which is pronounced "Beerall". It's made by processing fruit pomace and adding sugar and carbon dioxide. It used to be very popular in post-war Greece until its popularity was superceded by Coca Cola. It's probably the closest thing to "Fanta Klassik" still being sold, though it doesn't have any whey.
The majority of American grocery stores have bakeries! Also some states do sell alcohol in grocery stores like Meijer in Michigan.
None of these are weird to me as I live in Slovakia, but another thing which people visiting may find strange is that you can open multi packs of drinks and just take 1 out like a six pack of beer
what is funny for me is you can buy a lot of alcohol in the supermarket in czech but for a simple painkiller or bandage you need to go to the pharmacy
you can buy bandages (and other medical things) in supermarkets (and even small grocery shops). Where did you hear you can´t?
i live in czech and you can not buy it in the supermarket but you have to go to the lekerna most of the times next to the supermarket
@@wensdyy6466
I think the thing I learned that wasn't mentioned in this video is that grocery stores across the United States (and Canada) vary greatly. You can buy alcohol in some states in the grocery store in a lot of states, including Massachusetts where I lived for 8 years. In Ontario, Canada you can only get liquor at the government owned liquor store. They recently allowed beer and wine at grocery stores, but this is limited and the government still retains most of the revenue. Bottle deposits exist in a lot of US states and Canadian provinces, but not all.
I so love this channel, I am not even skipping the commercial. Hahaha
On the champagne-esque branding of that sparkling lemonade: we used to have chocolate sticks that were designed to look like cigarettes, in the UK
Also, I visited the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice this week for a tour and beer tasting, which was really cool!
We had those cigarette chocolate sticks in Czechoslovakia too. As far as I remember they didn't last even until the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993 😁
We have chocolate cigars and both bubblegum cigarettes and cigarettes that are made of a chalky candy like those horrible necco wafers or candy hearts.
So happy you visited my home town! I hope it was great.
Yeah, Popeye candy cigarettes, I loved those. Though I bet I'd find them pretty digusting now. @@docE3885
We had little chocolate cigarettes in Brazil, they were banned aswell
What I fund interesting regarding supermarkets is that Central Europe is so big on hops drinks like lemonades and alcoholic cocktails based in beer, like he showed. We certainly have them in Latvia but mainly it is cider country here. I was surprised when I was in Poland and it was actuall rather hard to find a good selection of ciders in stores as all kind of flavored drinks were actually beer based as it seemed or had very specific beer taste.
Then again even if we have a big cider selection here in Latvia this is not very historic, they have exploded in popularity only during last 10 years or so.
I remember very tasty white kvass from Riga, but i dont know if it is authentic Latvian or from ruSSia.
Three things: the automatic orange juice makers make the best juice anywhere. The LIDL/ADLI have the strangest organization for a grocery store. In the middle there can be anything like chainsaws to mechanics tools alongside vodka and cheese. The last is many stores want you to weigh and print the label for your vegetables and fruit prior to checking out so it can be scanned like everything else. The cashier gets grumpy when you don't and may quietly whisk the item to the side instead of adding it to the bill.
I miss shopping in Europe. The store you are shopping at reminds me of this store I visited in Croatia. Yes I bought all the beers even the plastic bottle ones. I bought most of the items you featured. Thank you.
I am looking forward to my holiday in March to Prague. It isn't my first choice as I wanted to go to Brno but flights are only from London which I live noooooway near. I have found your videos extremely interesting and helpful. Looking at the Albert website I have found UK prices for similar/same products are 2 to 3 times more expensive when you convert Ck to GBP. One day my dream is to live in Vsetin, the home of my favourite Ice Hockey team. That is the fault of a Czech friend who came to the UK for a while and made me fall in love with the country and his home town. Sadly I have lost touch with him when he returned home and shortly before a certain virus hit our shores. I miss him greatly.
Just take a train or rent a car and you will be in Brno in 2-3 hours.
go by train, it is very easy by train, you will get from city center of Prague to city center of Brno
I used to love "bílá kava" when I lived there 30 years ago. Not sure anymore what it was, but the kids drank it in the morning. I think it was made with grains (brandname Melta?), sugar, and coffee.
Oh yes! It has long history, we had it as kids too, there's a plenty of variety still around, reminds me of coffee from coffee machines at train stations, mainly people who can't drink caffeine drinks it or served in hospital, although it's good hot drink with only milk 🎉
it is called cigorka/cikorka too. It is roasted barley and roasted chicory roots.
My New Jersey supermarket has a huge section, almost as big as some smaller grocery stores, that only sells alcohol.
Growing up in the Netherlands we used to have choclate sigarets during the Holliday period as a treat. Used to love them as a kid since it was a nice gimmick. Was banned years ago for obvious reasons
When I'm in the Czech Republic, at least Kastany, Sladka, Kofila and - very important - Pardubicky Pernik (they're all sweets) always travel back to Germany with me. 😋
Sojový suk for the win! I actually loved it as a kid. There is nothing like it, the taste is really unique and delicious! :-)
When I was in Prague I got almost all of these. I also got paprikas sausage and it was so good. Also Becherovka, got it even in Poland.
Oh my gosh, I used to go shopping there all the time when I lived in Prague, I spent 6 months living in Smichov.
6:21 former CEO of Heineken once said that kids who grew up on sweet drinks like Coca-Cola, now as adults they don't want bitter beer anymore. Guess she was right, that's why lemonade flavour radler beer is in such demand...
she? thats the same problem as us bud light, disney, victoria secret..hollywood...women tell men what they should like😂 ok, it always works out when women say its because.... 😂
@@theoteddy9665 coincidentally it's the highest quality for money lemonade on the market. No artificial flavours, colouring or sweeteners... Lemon flavour is a staple, but I also like lemon-elder-mint
I dont claim its not, but statisticaly speaking how others company turn out to be after feminist and woke movement in last years, it might be the only hit.. btw in germany/czech it was always normal to mix beer with coke or sprite.. so it isnt even original idiea..
@@theoteddy9665 well, I tried to ignore your baseless misogynistic accusations. She's former CEO, as I mentioned. There's somebody else now, and the company is just fine, as heartless multinational corporations can go...
@@PtrkHrnk no mysogynistic accusations, its statistic, not me, but whatever, hurt feelings have no effect on facts..
My trip to Prague for New Years' 2018, I stayed at the Galerie Royale in Karlin (on Křižíkova). I decided to try and act like a local by going to the Albert market across the street. One thing I didn't realize until I was checking out was that they didn't have any plastic bags for me to carry the groceries back across the street. It was funny seeing me walk back across the street with snacks and toiletries stuffed in my jacket pockets...lol.
Hehe I would bet it was somewhere not on plain sight. Did you ask the cashier? :)
They are normally under the conveyor belt
Unlike in US you can no longer have a plastic bag for free in our shops. Czechs usually STORE (yes, really) used plastic bags and reuse them until they tear apart.
or just some grab some empty card box to take your groceries
@@linogalveiasYeah. When I travel back, I will definitely bring my own bag to put groceries in.
I love "Sojový suk", just bought 5 of them when I visited the Czech Republic last time❣. I was just surprised that you called "Tvarůžky" 'smelly cheese'; all my American friends told me that they would call it 'stinky'. Thank you for the content. Cheers!
I love browsing supermarkets when I travel and often stay in self catering flats.. Can you do a video on the best places to shop for food in Prague?
I love Vincentka. The taste is just addictive.
I think I also would like that flavorless candy bar
During my first time in Czech Supermarket buying water I asked for water and the default if you ask water is sparkling water.
I do love it, although I call it "SODA" but if you want non sparkling water you need to ask for it....
there is this system with the pink and blue cap, I dont remember if the blue is for sparkling or non sparkling. (need to come visit and check 🙂)
But I love going to local Supermarket. I always get the stuff to bring back home from the local Supermarket and it is fun to see new products.
you can find known brands but with different type of products and it is fun to see your own local stuff on sell in another county.
Where I am in the US all the large grocery stores have an in-house bakery.
And absolutely everywhere has a huge beer and wine section (can only sell hard spirits in a specialty store in my area).
Also we have non-alcoholic beer, just not as many types (but starting to be more).
Spa water = mineral water but from a specific spot?
Sojový suk is a bar that tastes somehow like marzipan and a touch of licorice and vanilla to me.
please, don´t offend marzipan.😂
I miss the antiperle. I can't find them anymore in any shop. I would have love to show my children the sweets we got from our family in cezch.
Anti-pearls under the MIRAMINT brand are offered by the Bohemia Marketing Bomark e-shop
I think Lidl sells them, just under a different name. They should be somewhere around the checkout zone.
I love Birell, especially the Mango Citron one. I found it at a Billa in the city centre and thought it was just a fizzy drink. Wasn't aware it was a non-alcoholic beer!
Be careful, there's still a litt e bit of alcohol in it so it is not suitable for children.
we have in-house bakeries and everything too... but also a gigantic bread aisle. Least in the south.
Dude. Where is kofola
That smelly cheese looks exactly like the Harzer Käse that they sell in Germany!
Very proteic and extreeeemely smelly :D
It is similar, but the German name for the Olomoucký tvarůžek is Quargel. And you can get that in Austria and I think parts of Germany as well.
Its nearly the same, interesting, you get a lot of varieties of Olmützer Quargel with: Kümmel, Paprika, Knoblauch etc. more than in Germany. But: Price is higher than in Germany
Yes, those two are very simmilar.
Tesco! We went to that one when I was there.
We have similar non-alcoholic drink for kids in the US. I bought the football one so my son for NYE
Tesco is a British supermarket. Just in a different country Tesco are big though no wonder its elsewhere in the world.
3:08 In Finland (and Sweden) there was on late 80's a similar product, but made from chocolate. Those got also banned for same reason; "teaches kids to smoke". Also there was a liquorice pipe, that also got similar fate on some time around 2016 here in Finland. They changed form to look like a flute, but the original form stayed, only to have +18 years tag on it "due looking like tobacco product". Same or same kind product might be still sold on other regions.
In Denmark, you can still buy this liquorice pipe :D
The 'help yourself naked bread" shocked me!! Not in a million years here in Australia where there are rules and regulations to 'keep us safe' from EVERYTHING!!
You are supposed to handle the bread only using plastic bags or provided cheap polyethylene gloves. Smaller stuff is usually enclosed and you have to lift a lid and use a glove or tongs to grab it.
Hehe, I had this culture shock the opposite way back when I lived in Australia. :) Also the fact that there was no option to buy half the loaf as we usually have. But maybe that was just my local supermarkets, didn't really look that hard for it lol.
Not even mentioned Kofola :(
Not in this video but we thought all the jellied meats were pretty fun. They sell one style in a few select stores in Wisconsin USA....but we saw so much over there!
I loved seeing the Milka display. I live in Canada but lived in Istanbul for a few years. They had a blueberry yoghurt Milka that was so good. Do they still make it?
I'm a brit living in Australia for 20yrs but I immediately recognised the supermarket as a Tesco store !
Time to get your space button fixed
Sójový Suk is actually great 😢
In Germany there is also a different smelly cheese they are from the same type, it is called Handkäse or Harzer. And believe it or not in the Hessen area Handkäse is often pickled in vinegar, oil with onions and maybe pepper and is eaten nearly the same as the pickled camembert (hermelin) you get in czech restaurants. Only difference is that usually in the hessen area people mostly drink apple wine (which is different from cider) to it instead of beers. Love that stuff. :)