Food Shopping
From the American viewpoint, Panama has the best food shopping in Latin America. Its American-style supermarkets are stocked with all the most popular American products atinexpensive prices. If you haven’t lived in other countries in Latin America, you won’t appreciate just how good Panama’s the food shopping is.
Supermarkets
To start with Panama has large, modern, well organized American-style supermarkets in all the places where foreigners live. These supermarkets have just about everything an American could want but the prices arecheaper. You will be surprised to find that many goods imported from the USA cost less here.
Our favorite supermarkets are El Rey and Riba Smith.
El Rey Supermarkets
El Rey has supermarkets in nearly every Panama City neighborhood as well as in Coronado on the Pacific Coast and in David in Chiriqui province. We love El Rey because the stores have just about everything Americans want, are spotless and well organized and the employees are friendly and well-trained.
Riba Smith
Riba Smith is the hands-down favorite supermarket for Americans and foreigners. The only problem is that it only has four stores- one in Punta Pacifica at the Multiplaza Mall, one in the older neighborhood of Bella Vista near Balboa Avenue, one on Transistimica Avenue and a brand new beautiful Riba Smith in Costa del Este.
Riba Smith is popular for two reasons- it has the largest selection of American specialty items and products, and excellent prepared foods and baked goods. Practically speaking this means more selections of American salad dressings, cereals, ice creams, holiday candies, diet and health foods, spices, etc. As for the excellent quality of the Riba Smith prepared foods- we love their chicken pot pies, various lasagnas, yogurts, ice creams and pastas.
Riba Smith also has its own bread and baked goods company with the best fresh bread loaves including several whole grain types and a wide variety of fresh, delicious baked goods. Even though it’s not close to where we live, we make a weekly trip to Riba Smith just to buy their healthy wholegrain multi-cereal bread loaves.
Super Kosher, Punta Paitilla
Panama’s only kosher market and a fun place to shop because it has many products other supermarkets don’t have.
Fruteria Mini Max: Bal Harbour Plaza in Punta Puntilla
Is the place to go for Oriental foods like tofu and miso and it also has a wondrous fruit and vegetable section with the best variety in town.
Fruits and Vegetables
Inexpensive tropical fruits abound as well as all the usual vegetables. If you love papaya, pineapples, mangos in season etc- you are in heaven. Sometimes small stores and open air markets have better quality fruit so ask around. The supermarkets all have an abundant selection of fruits and vegetables. For those who want better prices, are adventurous and speak some Spanish, you can go to the farmers market near Ancon and walk off with 50lb bags of oranges for $3, large avocados and pineapples for 50 cents etc.
Health Food
The best health food store is Organica in Punta Pacifica. It is small but has the basics including range fed poultry. Tel: 390-2000 or 390-2001.
Delis
The Deli Gourmet with a branch on Calle 50 and one in Dorado is the best deli in town. Their take out including sandwiches are excellent and this is also a store with hundreds of imported food items as well as wines and liquors.
If you have a favorite place I have missed here, send the info along.