Back in 2002, I decided to take a trip down to Buford Highway. Buford Highway is an area in Atlanta often disparagingly called “Chambodia”, which is a combination of the name of the city part of Buford Highway runs through (Chamblee, pronounced almost like the wine Chablis, only with an m and without the pretentiousness) and (of course) Cambodia. The area used to be populated by mostly middle-class folks that worked in the nearby GM plant. As an aside, the somewhat popular 70s band Atlanta Rhythm Section wrote a song called “Doraville”, about one of Chamblee’s neighboring towns. The song touts the good ol’ boy mentality and the reassuring comforts of the town: “Doraville, touch of country in the city/Doraville, it ain’t much, but it’s home“.
How things change! In the early 1980s, the white folks moved out and the Asians moved in. It’s what passes for a Chinatown in Atlanta, although that’s not entirely accurate. Not only did Asians move in, but so too did Mexicans and other Central and South Americans, which is why this same area is also sometimes called “Little Tijuana”. Go figure! Anyway, I picked up a lot of stuff and here are some pics of the BEST of the lot.
Butter Mints:
Nope, they’re not butterscotch. They’re mints… that taste like butter! It even has a pat of butter on the bag:
Shrimp Flavored Peanuts:
How’s THIS for an odd product?? Peanuts… that taste like shrimp!! And not only that, the shrimp-flavored coating was really hard, so much so that it was like shrimp-flavored jawbreaker on the outside, peanutty goodness on the inside. On the plus side, the container can be reused as a cup!
Such a happy lil’ bunch of characters!
Crappy Knife:
I love these knives! I think I paid $5.99 for this one and although it’s now as dull as an insurance seminar it still cuts through just about anything due to its heft. And it’s good for scaring the neighbors! I know that Lisa is still wary of me when I have this in my hand. I call him “Junior”:
