Some neighborhood dikkanehs, infused by a spurt of youth or
money, will modernize, and you will see fancy refrigerators outside, and the
owners create some kind of aisle system through which you can maneuver. This, in
general, does not last long. Because with more space, they automatically expand
their assortment, and before you know it, the aisles are packed (again) with
boxes of produce, bags of something, and we’re back to the usual set-up; The owner
knows where all the items are, and you just state what you need, and he gets
them and place them on the ‘counter’ (which is either that old desk, or on top
of other merchandise). The items go home in a black plastic bag. You never buy
much at a local dikkaneh, since you usually go there every day anyway, or even
several times a day.
Sietske is not in Beirut at the moment, but on her annual ‘Trek
to the Motherland’. She leaves you every Friday with a typical Lebanese
neighborhood ‘dikkaneh’, also called mini-market. They are all situated in
Beirut. The exact road & neighborhood are indicated on the picture itself. These
little stores have all disappeared in Holland; fallen victim to the big
supermarket chains. But here in Beirut, we still have them. This is number 11
in a series of 12. The next one will appear tomorrow though, I sort of 'had' it with my holidays.
