Gloria: I love doing my grocery shopping at the market.
Malcom: Me, too! And Borough Market is my favourite.
Gloria: So what’s on your list? I need meat, fish and vegetables.
Malcolm: Fruit and veg for me. And perhaps a ready meal or two.
Gloria: OK, let’s start at the fishmonger’s. I’m a regular here.
Malcom: Oh, those plaice are a bargain! I’ll get a couple, too
Gloria: Right, what’s next? Ah, there’s a good fruit & veg stall. Let’s see, I need 3lbs of potatoes and some carrots, broccoli and onions
Malcom: I’ll get some tomatoes and lettuce for tonight’s salad. And some of those lovely strawberries.
Gloria: Excellent! I just need to pick up a couple of steaks at the butcher’s and then I’m done.
Malcolm: Right. Let’s go to Borough Market Kitchen for some street food. You can get some to take away, too.
Gloria: Good idea. I’ll show you the best place in town for tacos!
Malcolm: Great, lead the way!
NOW LET’S REVIEW THE VOCABULARY!
Grocery shopping refers to shopping for food.
Veg is short for ‘vegetables’.
A ready meal is a pre-cooked meal that only needs to be heated.
A fishmonger is someone who sells fish. The apostrophe refers to the retail outlet, which is not usually mentioned: “I’m going to the fishmonger’s (store or stall)”. Similar examples are ‘the butcher’s’, ‘the baker’s’, ‘the greengrocer’s’, ‘the chemist’s’, ‘the newsagent’s’, etc.
Used in this way, a regular is a frequent customer.
A bargain is an item at a lower price than usual.
3lbs is equivalent to 1.37kg. ‘lbs’ is the abbreviation of ‘pounds’.
A butcher is someone who cuts and sells meat.
I’m done means “I am finished”.
Food and drink sold by vendors in a public place is called street food.
At some places, you can choose to ‘eat in’ or take away the food (‘take out’in the US). ‘Take-away’ is also used as an adjective, e.g. ‘a take-away meal’.
Lead the way is a common phrase used to invite someone to go first, to show others where to go.