If you’re an avid traveller, you must have had the urge to go to the local stores of the country you’re visiting and take back home some of the regular items as souvenirs. While these mementos traditionally meant aesthetically pleasing artwork or handcrafted keepsakes, travellers are now filling their bags with everyday grocery items instead. From local snacks and sauces to unique condiments and pantry staples, grocery shopping has become a new way to experience a destination, and here’s why it has become the latest travel trend.
Japan is often regarded as one of the best countries for grocery shopping because of its unending range of unique flavours and products. I mean, where else can you find more than a hundred different varieties of KitKat right? And it’s not just Japan that is attracting tourists with its grocery range. Around the world, people are fascinated by the taste of a new flavour of a similar product back home. Tourists are now increasingly stepping into local stores and shopping alongside residents, eager to discover authentic flavours beyond the menus of popular, tourist-packed restaurants.
A recent report suggests that 48 percent of travellers cook their own meals while on holiday, while 77 percent enjoy what is now being called “grocery store tourism.” They walk up to a local grocery store and buy ingredients alongside the residence and enjoy the authentic flavours either by cooking there or by carrying them back home. People are now increasingly travelling to buy kitchen items or pantry products from the stores which previously had been just the case with high-end items like clothes or bags.
Netizens have voiced their opinion online and wrote why grocery store tourism is growing in 2026. One user wrote, “Shopping at the supermarket really lets you get a better sense of locals' daily lives than checking in at tourist spots, especially the frozen food section.” Another added, “Wherever I find myself in the world, and I travel frequently for work, a visit to the local supermarket is almost like an anthropological experience”.
Overall, the basic idea of it is that an egg mayo sandwich from Tokyo or a packet of chips picked up abroad isn’t about the flavour alone. It is the atmosphere, memories and surroundings associated with the trip that become an integral part of the tasting experience.
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