Language barriers

I still have a hard time shopping for food. Most of the food comes from Romania, Hungary or Russia. If I can't recognise the pictures or the brand name, I don't buy it. I spent 30 minutes last night trying to find Bulgar Wheat, with no success.

Then I realised how many things are written in English. Only English. Many brand name items are written only in English. The candy section is full of American chocolate bars with English writing. Most beauty supplies are written in French or German, with a few Polish versions thrown in for good measure.

It's normal for me as a foreigner to not understand everything written, but I can't imagine how it would be for someone in Romania. Back home, all of the foreign foods had at least a passable English translation. Oriental supermarkets just seemed quaint.

I've always had a deep distrust of non-English food. Maybe it goes back to the Dollar Store, which imports cheap foods from Turkey and Lebanon. The cookies with the Arabic writing looked cool but there was no way I was actually going to eat them.

But yeah, back to the point I was trying to make: How do people go shopping when they can't even understand the language?