How specialty grocery stores have come to be cultural capsules for migrants in Australia
As Australia continues to become home for people from every corner of the globe, specialty grocery stores have become cultural sanctuaries for migrants, helping to preserve heritage, provide a sense of belonging and build community through food.
When I first moved to Sydney from India almost a decade ago, I remember being in awe when I walked into one of the shiny, bright supermarkets – rainbow-coloured vegetables, clear punnets of berries, chicken drumsticks in neat packages, instant foods and treats in colourful packaging. Everything was so clean, not like the markets of my childhood where vegetables often came home with soil still clinging to the roots.
The joy lasted for a few weeks until I started craving the comfort of flavours from home.
I went back to the same supermarket chains which seemed to have every ingredient you could think of – except they didn't. So I did what every immigrant student does and looked up the closest Indian grocery store to me.Instantly, I felt transplanted into a pocket of India. There were ceiling-high metal racks stacked with jars of pickles, ghee and groundnut oil, varieties of rice and wholemeal flour in sacks as big as my torso, fresh green chillies and raw mangoes, and large trays of Indian sweets at the front.
The scent of sugar syrup and rosewater mingled with the slight dustiness of anything that sits in a shipping container for weeks, yet there’s a strange familiarity to it. Old Bollywood music played in the background, familiar packaging surrounded me, and I could hear other customers speaking in Hindi to the shopkeeper – it was in this little corner shop that I found a piece of home.
For immigrants from all around the world, this is a familiar feeling.
"Any time my family and I would move, the desi store (local South Asian store) would be the first place we would locate in our neighbourhood," says culinary consultant Ismat Awan. "It was like stepping into a place of familiarity, with the faint scent of agarbatti (incense) and the rows of organised chaos including bags of spices and boxes of Shan masala [a well-known Indian brand] lining the shelves, instantly finding a place in our baskets and soon into our pantries. I think what made visiting these stores so important was their ability to help you settle into a new environment more comfortably.”
A proud third-culture kid with Pakistani heritage and an Australian and Timor-Leste upbringing, Awan's journey mirrors her parents' experience when they first moved overseas. For her, these stores are a place for sourcing ingredients for her food styling and recipe development, or when a pang for the flavours of her childhood strikes – they feel like a treasure trove of memories.
These stores are often owned and operated by families honouring their heritage, weaving together the stories and traditions of their past to create connections with a new country they now call home.
Gong Grocer, one of Sydney's best-known Asian supermarkets reflects this family-driven approach. Named after the late patriarch of the family known as 'Ah Gong,' the current owners feel a deep generational responsibility to carry on his story.
"Our store exists not only to preserve heritage, but to proudly share it with customers from all generations and backgrounds, offering a space where people feel seen, connected, and celebrated," says Brian Nguyen, Managing Director of Gong Grocer. "It's a space that reflects the heart of family, and proudly celebrates Asian culture in all its richness and complexity."
With offerings spanning Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Japanese and Korean products, the team behind Gong Grocer seeks to recreate the experience of shopping at markets back in Asia.
Similarly, Radhe, an Indian grocery established by the Patel family is a family-run store. Moving from India in 2001, the Patels found a gap in the market for younger generations to access well-priced, accessible Indian groceries.
"We often hear from parents visiting their children in Australia that they can find everything they need here. They note they don’t quite miss India as much when they visit our store, and that feeling of creating a home away from home is incredibly fulfilling," says co-owner Ketan Patel.
Shaping the future
Specialty grocery stores are not just cultural capsules, but also time capsules for migrants in Australia. For us, it might mean finding the ingredients our parents and grandparents once used, or discovering the stories behind traditional dishes cooked on special occasions.
Despite being rooted in the past, these stores are creating a culturally relevant space for many second and third-generation immigrants too. They have seen significant growth among Australian customers who are increasingly curious and experimental with food, whether they're recreating viral dishes seen on social media, or participating in food tours in suburbs like Sydney’s Harris Park or Cabramatta to learn about immigrant cultures.
“Since opening, we’ve seen our customer base grow into an incredibly diverse community. We continue to serve our core group of Asian-Australians and Asian immigrants, and we've witnessed a growing non-Asian customer demographic. Younger generations are returning to food as a way to explore their identity, and we’ve noticed a real desire for authenticity and convenience,” says Nguyen.
For food professionals like Ismat who has collaborated with the likes of Adam Liaw, her work becomes about showcasing the enduring appeal of traditional flavours and introducing the timelessness of diverse cuisines to a broader audience.
And for the owners of these truly special specialty stores, it’s the potential to keep traditions alive and shape how future generations connect with their heritage while simultaneously creating a sanctuary within their communities.
Read my select articles here.
