Wichita is NOT the promised land

When the pastor of my childhood church learned that I would be moving to Wichita, he gave me a knowing smile.

“Moving to the Promised Land,” he declared.

He, being a native of the greater Wichita area, would say such a thing.

I was a little surprised when our pastor in Wichita used the same phraseology to describe Wichita.

“Why does everybody call Wichita the Promised Land?” I asked him.

He had no good answer–and really wasn’t aware that anyone besides himself referred to the town thus.

Nevertheless, I have definitively decided that both pastors are wrong. Wichita is NOT the Promised Land.

The Promised Land, you see, is a land flowing with milk and honey. Groceries should be easy to come by in such a place.

Wichita is no such place.

Wichita has three grocery stores: Dillons, Wal-Mart Marketplace, and ALDI. No problems there, necessarily. After all, I come most recently from Columbus, where we had Hy-Vee, Super Saver, and Walmart. I got along just fine there.

But Wichita is more than 15 times bigger than Columbus. Yet while I could easily find everything on my list in just one of Columbus’s stores (I frequented the Super Saver), I have to visit three different stores in Wichita and still go home without my list being fulfilled.

Last night, after I was forced to return home without potted ginger, coconut milk, red curry paste, and molasses, I declared to my husband that sometimes I think I hate this town.

It’s probably an over-reaction. I know it’s an over-reaction. But food is a pretty important part of my life–and the process of procuring food in Wichita, KS is enough to make me pull out my hair.

Really, I was spoiled growing up.

I grew up going to SuperSaver in Lincoln. My closest SuperSaver just happened to be the SuperSaver just south of the majority of Lincoln’s ethnic population. It catered to the needs of the masses.

There, I could find Omega Eggs (researchers from UNL developed the process of enriching eggs with Omega-3s by adjusting the chicken’s diets). There, I could buy a whole range of Mexican, Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese ingredients. There, I had ready access to R.U.Nuts bulk foods, perfect for making my own trail mixes.

Here?

I can get Omega eggs at the Dillons on West and Central (but not at 21st and Amidon). I can buy Mexican ingredients at the Dillons on 21st and Amidon. Rumor has it there’s an Asian market somewhere where I can find my curry paste. And I can get bulk nuts and candy (but not fruit) at the Nifty Nut House.

But molasses?

I haven’t figured out where to find that yet.

Wichita is NOT the Promised Land.

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To be fair, Wichita does have some advantages as food goes. Braums has the tastiest milk ever (I’m actually drinking milk on occasion these days, and I definitely enjoy what’s left in my cereal bowl). The Spice Merchant has fantastic coffee, tea, and buy-by-the-ounce spices. But I still pine for the one-stop-shopping convenience of my used-to-be-local Super Saver.