Products from the local Asian food market are a staple of my Asian-American family’s fridge. It’s a place where we go every week to stock up on supplies of frozen baozi, udon, unique vegetables like water spinach, and many other groceries not found in a Costco or ShopRite. At the same time, it is one of the places that reminds me of my grandparents’ cooking back in China.

When we went to Paterson, NJ, we visited a market called Fattal’s for the local Muslim community. When I entered, I immediately smelled many spices. Walking along each aisle, I noticed a variety of different foods, from rows of packaged tea leaves to packages of different dried foods (dates, roses, and fruits). Even the chips they sell in the snack aisle had names written in Arabic. The market had many products unique to the Muslim culture, and just like the effect the Asian food market has on me, Fattal’s seems to bring a sense of comfort and community to migrants from the Middle East.

Then, we saw rows of fruits and vegetables in the fresh produce section, and due to our love for fruits, my sister and I could not help but buy a few green fruits called sour plums to try. The vegetables we saw were also very different from those I eat at home. Here, vegetables and fruits appear in pickled form, and there was an especially large selection of olives. I assume that these pickling techniques are widely used in order to preserve foods in a dry climate.

One of my favorite parts of the market was the section with cooked foods. I enjoyed watching the process of making falafels, and the spinning meat on the stick in this picture is another tradition of Middle Eastern cuisine. The skewers of either beef or lamb are combined with peppers and different spices, then people slice off layers of meat vertically to serve to customers. Unlike typical Asian food markets, the cooked foods in this Middle Eastern market were of a wide variety and there even was an area to sit down and enjoy the dishes.

After eating a good meal, I also enjoyed a variety of fresh-baked pastries. I bought some pistachio baklavas to bring home to my parents, who have never tried Middle Eastern cuisine. Although the baklavas were very sweet, the crunchiness and distinct taste of the baklava balanced out the flavor, and my entire family loved them.