Let's imagine you've just arrived in Slovakia to start your volunteer project. You are now in a new country and everything feels fresh and unfamiliar.  You're ready to explore new places, connect with people, and learn from this experience.

In the beginning, you might feel a bit disoriented about new things, including food. Every one of us needs to eat, and if it's your first time in a Slovak supermarket, you will probably be clueless about what to buy, especially if you are used to mediterranean gastronomy as I am. So, here are my recommendations.

First of all you have to know where to buy, there is a good variety of supermarkets so I recommend you to visit each of them that's close to you, because there can be a big difference in products between them. But before going, it is a good idea to get their “discount cards’’, most of the supermarkets have one, and you can save a good amount of money with discounts. You can get it easily for free by registering on their website or app.

Something I found out from Slovak supermarkets is that they use to have a big variety of some specific products. They can have an entire alley full of different brands and flavors of yogurts, but then you are unable to find what you are looking for. If you like cooking and you have time, it will not be a problem for you to find ingredients, but if you want to cook the same dishes as you did in your home country, you will see that some ingredients may be more expensive, so I recommend you to give a try, and get some Slovak food like Halušky, but don't quit yourself to buy important things like olive oil just because of the price.

In summary, if you don’t want to be eating the same dish of pasta everyday, just be curious, visit different supermarkets, take something that you haven’t eaten before, inform yourself about Slovak food culture, and most importantly, keep calm and enjoy it.

Text: Manuel López

Manuel je dobrovoľníkom programu Európskej komisie Európsky zbor solidarity na dobrovoľníckom projekte v Bratislavskom dobrovoľníckom centre. Projekt bol podporený z programu Európsky zbor solidarity.