What is a bodega anyway?
Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, the NY congresswoman, explained to Desus and Mero on Showtime, the meaning of bodega as “it’s more than a grocery store, it’s the circle of life.”
She is right. It is not a supermarket, it is not a normal convenience store. It is a grocery store, with a cat (at least most of the time) — But no, it is not a pet store. It is your corner store, deli, beer depot, warehouse shop, makeshift pharmacy, and yes, an information and neighborhood gossip hub.
Bodegas are more about the community and culture than the store itself, as a longtime resident of the Bronx told Martin Austermuhle from NPR. “More than just ‘bodega cats’ that have gone viral, a bodega is about the bachata music playing out of one, or the Arab owner out of another letting someone buy something on credit because she doesn’t get paid until Friday. It’s a place where uncles set up chairs and tables to play dominoes in the summertime.”
And yet, currently, New York bodegas do not sell wine, as the word Spanish origins denote, and as Facebook and Google algorithms believe.
