Have you been to what I call the “Disneyland for Foodies”?

Jungle Jim’s used to be my early morning Saturday ritual. Every week, I’d get up around 7:15, grab myself a hot cup of coffee or tea, and drive to Jungle Jim’s, leaving my sleeping kids with the sleeping hubby. I’m there before 8 when the doors open, avoiding most of the crowd that comes trickling in around 9. By 10 or so I’m back home, and we have a lavish brunch provided by my latest foray of JJ’s offerings.

Jungle Jim’s is THE food-shopping mecca of the Midwest. Located in Fairfield, Ohio, it was about a half-hour away from our home in Blue Ash, but worth any traffic you have to navigate to get there. When we moved in 1998 from Texas to Cincinnati, Jungle Jim’s was first and foremost on my mind as I had already discovered the powers of the ‘net — and knew JJ was THE place to go if you were a foodie. The day after we moved — we were still at the hotel/temporary apartment — I dragged my family to see what all the fuss was about. One trip and I was hooked! Its 280,000-square feet of food-food-food is everything a foodie could ask for. (Compare that to New York’s Zabar’s, which is 20,000 square feet.)

This place is the only real ONE STOP SHOP I’ve ever seen! Wines, beers, cheeses, hearth-baked breads, international produce, all kinds of fish — filleted and whole, all types of meat and poultry — including things like venison, elk meat, and free-range chickens. For tongues that can handle any amount of heat, there’s the “Aisle of Inferno” holding about 800 different kinds of hot sauces. At the back of the store is the “European Village”, each country’s products housed in a little room (actually a trailer attached to the main building) and the country’s flag displayed at the entrance. You enter one and the country’s music is playing! I tell ya, Jungle Jim Bonaminio has thought of EVERYTHING…. and he still has a few tricks up his sleeve, including rides that will be operational sometime in 2006.

A trip to Cincinnati is incomplete without a pilgrimage to JJ, so on our last trip I dragged the kids with me while hubby was at work; I only wish I could have taken pictures inside the store, but I love JJ too much to risk getting myself banned from the place LOL.

At any rate, you can visit their website to learn more. Click on Departments — some will have a Photo Tour so you can see their extensive selection. Perhaps when we move back to Cincinnati in a few years you could come visit me and we can explore JJ together!

Here’s an October 2000 article on JJ’s from Smithsonian, and here’s a Business Week article that came out in April 2005. I don’t know about you, but I’d take Jungle Jim’s anytime over Wal-mart, and that’s coming from a regular Wal-Mart shopper. There’s something about JJ’s that WM won’t ever be able to touch: their dedication to foodies like me. I’m pretty sure Wal-Mart won’t be carrying triple creme brie or fresh water chestnuts anytime soon.

Jungle Jim’s International Market
Open 7 days a week. 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
5440 Dixie Highway
Fairfield, Ohio 45014
Phone: 513-674-6000
Fax: 513-674-6001