No doors, no problem?

I recall hearing the reason that food is so spicy in warm climates is that it serves as a preservative so the food doesn't spoil. Today, we have refrigerators so the spice isn't necessary, although it has long been a style of cooking in warm weather climates like India.

Israel has a warm weather climate. How warm? Here's how people walk around at the end of January. No coats, no problem.

This means that you must be extra careful to keep food cool, particularly in the summer. But here's what many grocery stores refrigerators, nearly all in my neighborhood, look like in  Israel:

No doors on the milk or meat. And the fridges aren't even high powered, or maybe the managers turn down the thermostat to save on electricity. Whatever air is cooled just flows out into the room. The result is that the meat is nearly warm. Same with the milk. 

Tell me what your mother would say if you left the fridge door open all night. Would she be happy about that?

This is what they do in this insane country where nothing is normal. You buy a pack of cold cuts and it's good for two days because it's already half spoiled.

Yesterday, I found that the fridge with the orange juice wasn't turned on at all. I told the Sri Lankan worker (that's who they hire here now since they got tired of being nervous around Arabs) and he turned it on, but I suspect that the OJ was all spoiled. He didn't throw it out. The buyers won't know that until they taste it. Hopefully, they don't get sick.

I have seen all kinds of people get tummy aches. I don't know if they suspect spoiled food. 

Here's what grocery store fridges look like in countries where people operate with some common sense: 

See that? Doors on the fridge. Keeps the cold in. Isn't that brilliant? And since the doors are made of glass, you can still see the food, but when you buy the food and eat it, it doesn't wreak havoc on your stomach.

I have complained to store managers about this. They shrug their shoulders as if there's no problem. That's a common Israeli gesture. It means, I don't care. Don't bother me with that. 

Since I am not a shochet and don't own a farm, I am dependent on the stores for my perishable goods. And we do need to eat. I realize there's a holiness to the land, but I still need to eat without getting sick. It would also be nice to live in a society that doesn't feel like a mental asylum where the rational act is shunned in favor of something that makes no sense at all.