A few months back, we observed that the opening of a gourmet food store in Pest's District VI called merely the "Gourmet Deli" showed how generic imported or otherwise exotic food had become in Budapest. Well, it seems that the trend is accelerating, because when we popped by at lunch today for our standard Italian salami, arugula and sun-dried tomato sandwich, we happened upon a picture-perfect, grizzled old Pesti néni doing her shopping there as well.

From what we could tell, this time she was only picking up a few sweet potatoes, some onions and a container of organic sour cream. But just you wait. When they send out the bonus "13th month" pensions, she'll be back to load up on English farmhouse cheddar, boutique balsamic vinegar and hand-cut, truffle oil-infused linguini.