Adventures at the Grocery Store

Apparently I need to pay more attention to ingredients of the products I buy here, even if I THINK I know what's in them. Case in point: I made some spaghetti with tomatoes and pesto tonight for dinner. I boiled the spaghetti, tossed in the tomatoes, was about to stir in the pesto when I smelled something a little strange in the pesto. The jar was fully sealed, so I checked the expiration date just in case: 2009--okay, no problem there. I then scanned the list of ingredients on the side of the jar's label. That's when I found it:

Since when is pesto made of ARUGULA?!?

I want arugula in my salad and BASIL in my pesto! Instead, this pesto contains: arugula, olive oil, pine nuts, capers, garlic, and pepper -- not even a pinch of basil. I've never heard of such a thing. I bought this pesto in a normal grocery store, not in a fancy gourmet shop where they might be more likely to include unusual ingredients.

Some other unexpected foods/ingredients sold in Austria:
1. Curry ketchup - everyone could use a little curry with their ketchup.
2. Boxed milk - needs refrigeration only when opened
3. Sweet tomato sauce for pasta - a la "everything in Vienna is better with sugar"
4. Müsli (granola-type cereal) with chocolate - see sugar comment above
5. Almdudler - "herbal" version of Coca-Cola

Word of the Day: die Rucola = arugula