Have you ever dreamed of a place where you could buy food from literally all over the world? I am very excited to tell you that such a place actually exists! You will have to travel to Ohio for that, but first of all, Ohio is a pretty cool state, and secondly, people from all over the Midwest come and shop at this store. On their website, they claim that the store measures over 200. 000 square feet and they are selling 180. 000 products. Pretty mind blowing, huh? I am sure you are already excited to find out more about this magical place. So here we go.
Where is Jungle Jim’s International Market situated?
There are actually two Jungle Jim’s International Markets, just about half an hour apart from each other. The bigger, and the more popular one is situated in Fairfield. Jungle Jim’s Eastgate international market is situated closer to the city of Cincinnati, and it is smaller, but equally awesome. In this entry, I will be describing the bigger one.
This Jungle Jim’s is situated between Cincinnati and Dayton, and it takes some driving through the countryside to get there. Since most people use GPS nowadays, I will not give you detailed directions on how to get there.
When you are approaching the entrance, you will notice big statues of animals from all over the world, and jungle noises are played on the loudspeakers. And even the exterior of this store is impressive.
Best time to go
If you decide to visit Jungle Jim’s International Market on a weekend, prepare to drive in circles to find a parking spot. Their parking lot is enormous, so please remember where you parked and do not repeat my mistake. If you do, you might have to walk around for quite a while before finding the car.
In general, Jungle Jim’s International Market is open from eight o’clock in the morning to ten o’clock at night, with the exception of some holidays. You can check Jungle Jim’s website for more information.
Tours
This place is so big and interesting that they offer tours! The meeting point for the tours is right after the entrance. There is a huge sign that tells you so, and it is easy to find it. The tour lasts one hour and costs five dollars, which might seem a lot, but when you see the size of the store, you will understand why. You have to book the tours in advance, as funny as it sounds, because they are super popular.
I attended the tour on my first Jungle Jim’s International Market visit and I was beyond impressed. Of course you can also explore the store by yourself, but sometimes I like to hear the story behind a certain place I am especially interested in. Store tours also include some samples, and I loved how our ‘tour guide’ told us a lot of interesting facts about the store idea and some products that you can buy there.
If you take a tour of Jungle Jim's International Market, you will also get two dollars worth of store credit, which might not seem much, but it will buy you a snack or two. Like I told you, the tour is definitely worth these five dollars, since you also get to try some samples.
Section one: American foods and everyday items
The least interesting part of this section looks just like an ordinary grocery store, where you can buy any foods you can also get in your local supermarket.
But as soon as you walk through that part, you will notice a big sign, saying ‘craft ice cream’. and this is where you should go! I am telling you, I have never seen so much ice cream in one place in my whole life. There is hundreds of different brands and hundreds of different flavors and it breaks my heart because I know I will never be able to try all of them.
After you pass the ice cream part (you might be asking why would you want to leave the ice cream section, but you will see very soon), you will arrive to a part that I call ‘the soda part’. and do not be fooled, they do not just have ordinary Coca Cola and Pepsi here, but hundreds of other soda flavours from all around the world.
And some of the flavours are beyond weird. I wish I had the courage to try a few of the weirdest ones, but I do not really want to spend a dollar and seventy five cents on a soda that I am sure I will not be able to finish. Me and one of my best friends here decided to buy a few of them and try to finish them all. So what are the flavours that we decided to try?
- Pickle juice soda. I am one of those people who love the taste of pickle juice. I actually love anything that is sour. And no, I am not pregnant. And since I love pickle juice, I thought that buying a pickle flavoured soda would be a great idea. Well, I was wrong. Because that drink was extremely sweet with an aftertaste of a dill pickle.
I almost spit it out in front of quite a few people who were around me at that time. And the fact that this is a fizzy drink, did not help at all. Oh well, lesson learned. I probably do not need to mention that I only managed to drink a few sips. Then I gave it to my friend who just smelled it and threw it away.
- Bacon and chocolate. I like bacon. And I like chocolate. But why would someone mix both? That is just pure evil. This soda actually imitates the taste of bacon pretty well, and the chocolate flavour comes as an aftertaste. Then it mixes with the bacon flavour that you can still taste, and the result is - gross!
- Ranch dressing. I hate the taste of ranch dressing and I have no idea why I thought that choosing a ranch dressing flavoured soda would be a good idea. Spoiler - it was not a good idea at all. Similar to the pickle juice soda, the ranch dressing soda mixes sour and sweet flavour, and its smell is just awful.
- One of my friends also tried the Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I think you already know the answer to the question: 'Was it any good? ' - it was apparently worse than the ranch dressing flavour. I did not try the Peanut butter and jelly sandwich simply because I cannot stand the taste and smell of peanut butter. But I do like to occassionally eat peanuts, which is a bit weird.
- Love potion. This soda tastes like a fizzy strawberry lemonade, and it is really good. The bottle claims to have an aphrodisiac effect, but I did not feel anything. Maybe all the other disgusting sodas that I tried, killed the potential effects.
- Worm ooze, booger and dog drool. Do I need to comment on those? Yeah, I feel like I should. Please do not be as stupid as me and stay away from those three flavours. They are more disgusting than pickle soda, ranch dressing and bacon and chocolate combined.
The dog drool flavour smells like lemonade, but do not let the smell fool you. Booger smells like a booger (what a surprise), and when I tried it, I could not help, but imagine eating gross stuff from my nose. Worm ooze smells (and tastes) really bad, so I had to hold my nose in order to be able to try it without spitting it out.
- Cookies and cream. This one was actually my favourite because it tasted like Oreo cookies. So if you ever wanted to drink Oreo cookies for some reason, drinking this soda feels like you are really doing it.
So what were our feelings after spending almost twenty dollars on weird flavoured sodas? Since we threw most of them away after a sip or two, it was not really worth spending so much money, but at least we can say that we tried a bacon and chocolate flavoured soda, among some even grosser ones.
But not everything in this section is gross. You will also see an impressive collection of fizzy drinks and coconut waters. I have never seen so many different coconut water brands before. And in this section, I noticed another interesting thing - drinks that claim to help reduce anxiety. I bought one, but it is still in the refrigerator, waiting for me to be anxious enough to see if it really works.
You will also find a big gluten - free section in this part of the store, just next to all the sodas. In fact, the sign next to it says this is the largest gluten - free collection of foods in the Midwest. Exaggeration? I am not sure, but I know that the collection is pretty impressive. There is also a section, dedicated to pets, next to the gluten - free one.
And the most disgusting part of this section - freezers with pig heads. My only question when I saw that, was ‘why? ’.
At the end of the American foods section, there is a bakery, and you can sample quite a few items there for free. The samples include mostly bread, but not just any type of bread. There are different flavours and mixes and some of them are pretty exotic and interesting. Cheddar flavoured bread and whole grain bread with jalapeno peppers were two of my favourite items among all the samples. And if you are hungry (or just craving something sweet), please try their cinnamon rolls. They are freshly baked and delicious.
It sounds like you just covered a big part of the store with all these items, doesn’t it? Prepare to have your mind blown - this is the smallest section of the store! Ready to have your mind blown even more? This is the least interesting part of Jungle Jim’s International Market. So it is about time to move to the next section.
Section two: Alcoholic drinks
To be honest, I really did not expect to find beer from my home country here. But I did! And it made me really happy, because American beer tastes like water (sorry not sorry) compared to most European beers. Some other interesting beers in this section include different fruit flavours, such as orange, raspberry, mango and blueberry infused beer.
Other than beer from quite a few different countries, this part of the store also has an impressive wine selection. I am not a big wine drinker, but I was still impressed on how many different types of wine they had, and the selection had all price ranges.
Section three: International foods
I decided to describe the most interesting section last, and I could write about it all day. This section is divided into different countries, some have the whole row for themselves, others just have a few foods. The part with Asian foods is of course the biggest, and very interesting to look at. Because, let’s be honest, you can not really buy seaweed in your regular store, can you?
You can unfortunately only buy a few foods from my country at Jungle Jim’s International Market. But when you live abroad, you appreciate everything from your home country (speaking from a personal experience! ), and seeing a coffee from my country brought tears to my eyes. It is just so weird to see your language in the middle of the United states of America.
And the funny thing about trying to find food from some of the smaller countries - you might find it under a different country close to that one! For example, I spent about fifteen minutes, trying to find a tomato sauce from Serbia that I love, only to be told by an employee that they have it under Bosnia and Herzegovina. Well, I am happy I found it, even if it was under the wrong country.
One of quite a few intersections in the store.
The cutest part of this section is situated at the very back of the store - some countries are apparently special enough to deserve being represented in tiny houses, and it is adorable. When you enter, they play typical music from that country, and the exterior of these houses represents a typical architectural style from that country.
And there is a whole row, dedicated solely to hot sauces. I love spicy food and therefore different hot sauces, and I am not exaggerating when I say they have hundreds of them from all over the world. And you can imagine how hard it was for me not to buy all of them. At the end, I decided to buy ‘only’ eleven.
This section also includes cooking utensils, but that is not really interesting, so I will not describe it in detail.
One of the things I really did not expect in the International section, were the Kinder Surprise eggs, because apparently they are illegal in the United states of America. Why? I am asking myself the same question, and apparently the answer is because the small parts of toys inside are a potential choking hazard for the kids. The funny part about this situation is that you can literally go to a store and buy a gun, but Kinder Surprise eggs are too dangerous.
As I said, I was pretty surprised when I saw Kinder Surprise eggs here, and since I love them and I haven't had them for almost a year and a half (my family cannot ship them to me because they would throw them away at customs inspection), I simply had to have one, even if it cost me four dollars. Totally worth it.
In the same section as the Kinder Surprise eggs, I also found a surprisingly big collection of Milka chocolates. To be honest, I have not seen all of the flavours they had here, in my home country! And the price was similar to the one at home, so of course I had to buy quite a few of them.
In the British section, look for the Guinness beer flavoured chips. You can eat an infinite amount of them without having to worry about the hangover, and they do taste exactly like the famous Guinness beer.
Food court
There is quite a big food court in Jungle Jim’s International Market, and it is divided into two sections - one section has Asian food, and the other one has more Mediterranean - style food. It is cheap and it is delicious, so if you are hungry after exploring the store, this is your solution.
And the food court employees are more than happy to give you some samples, in case you are not sure which food would you like to try. And their sample portions are pretty generous - I asked for three different things to sample and I was almost too full after that to eat anything else, but I did not want to be impolite, so I ordered more food. And please try their salsa - it was the best salsa I have ever had!
Next to the Asian section of the food court, you will notice a few big aquariums with live fish inside. All the kids seem to love watching these fish while their parents are eating lunch in peace. And basically, if you want to buy any of those fishes in the aquariums, they will get it for you from the tank. I am glad I have never seen (at least not yet) how do they kill the fish, and it might seem gross, but hey, at least you know your fish is not a week old.
Next to the food court, there are restrooms, and you are probably wondering why am I mentioning that. Simply because I love how they are made. The entrance to the bathrooms is actually a porta potty door, so this is what I was expecting to see when I stepped inside, but they have real bathrooms. Pretty funny, if you ask me.
Entertainment and special events
Jungle Jim's International Market is more than just a place to buy food. When browsing the store, you will notice quite a few animated 'statues', and my favourite one is, without a doubt, the Elvis tiger. It actually opens and closes its mouth to the rhythm of the music, and he is singing Elvis Presley's songs.
But there are others, such as a talking can of soup, corn and Jungle Jim - the person behind the idea of this store. And those statues are not entertaining just for the kids, you will see quite a few adults enjoying the performance as well.
Jungle Jim's International Market also hosts quite a few special events throughout the year. I attended three of those events so far, and I loved every single minute at each one of them.
The first event that I attended, was the cooking class. What you cook depends on the event you attend, and all the materials are included in the price. And the best (or the worst, depending on how good cooks your classmates are) part of that class was definitely trying each other's food.
I want to the second event more out of curiosity than anything else, and I ended up loving it. It was the weekly cigar tasting meeting, and needless to say, you have to be over 21 years old to attend this event. Every month, they have guest speakers, and then you get to sample the cigars. Our guest speaker used to work on a tobacco plantation quite a few years ago, and he explained the process of making different types of cigars. I do not smoke, but I just had to try. And I almost died from coughing, but it was an interesting experience, to say at least.
The last event I attended, happened on my birthday, and it was a birthday gift from me to myself, and I also invited a few friends to join me. The event was called the Oktoberfest, and it was somehow a celebration of different beer types. Oh, and samples, of course. I think I have not tries as many beers in my whole life as I did that night! To attend this event, you have to be at least 21 years old.
Jungle Jim's International Market also hosts wine tasting once a month, and I am planning to attend this event in the future. And I am looking forward to let you know how it was! You have to pay a small fee to cover the price of the samples, but I am sure it is worth it. Again, you have to be at least 21 years old to attend this event.
A few words for the end…
I can see the future. For real. Because I know that when I move somewhere else, I will miss this store greatly. And the prices for most of the items they are selling, are really low, especially if you keep in mind that these goods are imported. And even if you do not intend to buy anything and you are just looking to kill some time, Jungle Jim’s International Market is a great place to go. But make sure you have plenty of time, because trust me, you will not want to leave!
And a funny story for the very end - when I was waiting in line to pay for our items (yeah, prepare to wait in the check - out line for a while), I realized that the couple in front of us bought three full shopping carts of food, and they paid almost five hundred dollars! Well, this is actually not a lot at all, since they had a ton of (imported! ) food, and they said they came all the way from Chicago to stock up on some food they fell in love with while travelling the world.
