Orzo Pupo is made from barley. Caro is a similar product made from cereal and chicory. They are both marketed as caffeine substitutes. Neither of them taste like coffee though I guess that's not what the manufacturers are technically boasting. You would think that a hot beverage that allows you to add milk and sugar to it and is a caffeine substitute would have something going for it. In a blind taste test, I would say that Orzo Pupo tastes more like a ground up cardboard drink.
It would have remained the Cardboard drink if not for Italy. Italy saw my introduction to the barley drink which was bought by my traveling companion and kind of enjoyed by him in a town called Salerno, just south of Naples. Subsequently, Orzo Pupo will now always remind me of Italy, of pizza and pasta in their true forms, the various Empires in all their glory, fast driving in tiny cars and where I first experienced being charged for shopping bags and it was the norm to self pack your groceries.
These days I get my Italian fix at the various European food stores in Melbourne. The classic is Mediterranean Wholesalers which contains an aisle of pasta as well as an aisle of cakes and an aisle of alcohol. These places don't do things by halves. Olive oil can be purchased in a modest 500ml bottle to a whopping 20 litre tin (the latter being very attractive containers for growing vegetables and herbs). Orzo Pupo is sold there too and a few years ago and probably misty with nostalgia, a jar was purchased that took about a year to finish.
I recently came across another large food store called Basfoods Direct. Basfoods has been operating for more than 20 years as a supplier of mainly Middle Eastern and Turkish foods. I have known about it for a while but whenever I'd been nearby it had been closed. During those times I would gaze through the gates towards the store front lined with the mega tins of olive oil and wonder about Orzo Pupo and various other imports. Recently they 'moved' to an adjoining warehouse next door and opened a halal butcher shop called Melbourne Meat Company (how nobody else had previously snapped up that name is a wonder). Today I finally found myself inside the gates and inside their retail store.
The interior reflects a warehouse and its shelves and concrete floors are pristine. It smells like no other place, a strangely pleasant combination of spices and soap and is lit by subtle and sometimes dim artificial and natural lighting rather than the bleached qualities in regular supermarkets. There is cookware and utensils attractively displayed behind glass and lights and a great array of Basfoods packages nuts and spices, a whole aisle of them, plus more aisles devoted to pasta. Being a fan of anything dipped and preserved in oil, I lingered by the pickle and preserved goods aisle. I looked longingly at the 5 litre jar of assorted pickled vegetables, obviously targeting caterers or very large families but I opted for some olive and anchovy spread in a modest 100ml jar. In the hot drinks section, I searched for Orzo Pupo but was unsuccessful.
Jumping out at you as you scan the shelves are the occasional oddities. Edgell's Creamed Corn stands out as does Nutrigrain cereal and various cleaning products. I perused a series of Turkish cake mixes, Dr. Oetker brand which included a cheesecake mix. Further along was a kit that seemed to include a chocolate sponge cake for making a Tiramisu, fully imported. Along the bank of fridges were more bulk items of pasta and cheeses packaged in kilogram lots sitting next to big blocks of caterer's Western Star butter. I thought of my own refrigerator, already crammed full, and moved along.
As I slowly strolled towards the checkout counter with my few purchases, I saw a lady with 4 large bags of flour in her trolley and I wondered whether she was embarking on a bread making exercise in her outdoor oven or just a restaurant owner. Behind me a man held one of those large tins of olive oil. You never can tell.
From just popping in to have a look, I ended up with some freshly baked Turkish bread and my various preserved vegetables as well as some fettucine and a packet of wild rocket seeds. The cashier was giving each customer 3 packs of Dr. Oetker vanilla pudding whose expiration date was next month.
At home I examined the faraway addresses printed on my purchases, jogging my memories of Italy, but noting with a laugh that the pasta was made in the Melbourne suburb of Rosanna.
Basfoods Direct
419 Victoria St, Brunswick, 3056.
Mediterranean Wholesalers
482-492 Sydney Rd, Brunswick, 3056.
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