Pacific Caribbean Supermarket opened in City Heights this month, catering to West African and Caribbean San Diegans looking for a little taste of home. | Video Credit: Brian Myers
By Brian Myers
There’s a new grocery store in City Heights that can help African immigrants remember the taste of home.
Pacific Caribbean Supermarket opened after New Year’s on the 4200 block of El Cajon Boulevard.
 Pialou Awesso came to San Diego from Togo three years ago.|Photo Credit: Brian Myers |
It’s the first store Pialou Awesso has established in San Diego. She’s a veteran grocer, selling at open-air markets in Togo before migrating to National City, Calif., about three years ago with her daughter. Awesso came to the United States to be with her husband Wiyao, who has been here since 2005 and is a serviceman in the Navy.
Opening the new market, Awesso said, was not a easy process and quite different than selling food in her West African nation.
“It was very complicated,” she said, “there were a lot of papers to complete and permits [to obtain].”
The process took Awesso about seven months to file all the legal work to open her supermarket.
The store offers products that can only be found in African markets. Shelves are filled with packages of various flours and spices split from a bulk order.
The flour – from cassava, plantains and yams – is boiled and compacted to make dough balls called fufu. Fufu is eaten in soup or with sauces.
Awesso said she thinks African San Diegans lack access to culturally significant foods. She said she chose to open her market in City Heights to be close to the large population of African and Caribbean people who seek to cook traditional meals.
Still picking up English, Awesso said selling food is what works for her.
“It’s what can be profitable for me,” she said.