Taste the World: International Food on Local Shelves

WHETHER YOU'RE looking for ingredients to replicate Mom's recipes or want to try your hand at a new cuisine, there are many international markets in D.C., Maryland and Virginia with ingredients beyond peanut butter and Wonder.

For Thai shopping, there are a few options in this area. Thai Market carries frozen seafood, including prawns, shrimp, squid, mackerel and other fish; pastes, including tamarind paste and curry paste; and canned goods like rambutans (the little, round, tropical fruits with red, spiky exteriors), lychee fruit and lotus root.

Nuts-and-bolts ingredients include kaffir lime leaves and coconut milk -- useful for Thai soups and curries -- as well as fish sauces, hot sauces and countless types of soy sauce necessary for pretty much every Thai dish. Also look for unique products such as frozen custard apples.

If Thai baked goods strike your fancy, head to the Bangkok 54 Oriental Foods Market in Arlington. There, you'll find freshly baked cookies, cakes and squares. They also sell freshly made sweet sticky rice with taro, wrapped in banana leaves; grilled skewered chicken; whole fried tilapia; and balls made of tapioca pearls and pork. Some items are labeled in Thai only, so if you're curious about what you might end up eating, don't be afraid to ask.

Another Asian market worth visiting is the Fiesta Oriental Market in Arlington, a mostly Filipino grocery store. If you're searching for ready-made dishes, head to the store's freezers, which contain lumpia (Filipino-style spring rolls) and siopao (similar to Chinese steamed buns).

Frozen meats include sausages and cured pork shoulder. The grocery aisles feature grated cassava, dried taro leaves, squash seeds and other ingredients. Sweets include ube (purple yam) cakes, pandan cakes and biscuits made from puffed rice.

While just driving from one side of Arlington to another, residents can travel from Southeast Asia to the South Asian subcontinent.

If you're looking for exotic produce, India A-1 Grocery is the place to go. In addition to ripe mangoes, the store carries karela (or bitter gourd), chikoo fruit (little globes with pear-like flesh), white and yellow pumpkins (which look nothing like pumpkins), and tindora fruit (or ivy gourd). The market also offers such basics as chickpea flour, lentils, and spices. If you go, pick up a Limca soda -- a refreshing lemon-lime beverage sold widely throughout India.

» Thai Market, 902 Thayer Ave., Silver Spring; 301-495-2779.
» Bangkok 54 Oriental Foods Market, 2927 Columbia Pike, Arlington; 703-521-4207.
» Fiesta Oriental Market, 4815 N.1st St., Arlington; 703-516-9160.
» India A-1 Grocery, 4815 Lee Highway, Arlington; 703-841-9626.

Written by Express contributor Suemedha Sood
Photo by Marge Ely/Express