Squash galore

Can you name all of these squash? You get a gold star if you can. I can't. Until a few of years ago, I was able to identify only acorn and butternut (and pumpkin, of course, if it counts). Then I was introduced to the wonderful delicata squash, the one most zucchini-like in shape and size (third from the right in the front row). Unlike most squash, delicata have edible skin. I have still never tried kabocha, hubbard, spaghetti, or most of the other various ones here. My favorites aside from delicata are acorn and butternut, and I like these three enough not to care too much about expanding my squash repertoire further. If you're a fan of another, though, let me know while the store is still flush.

This array is at the nearby, rather small, notsupermarket, which stocks very few of the special things one wishes that supermarkets would carry but fears they will not. No panko breadcrumbs, no creme fraiche or Mexican crema, no good canned tomatoes, no kecap manis or dark soy, no kasha, no baby bok choy, no Thai basil, no skirt steak, no kosher poultry, no fresh fish I would care to eat. But nine kinds of squash, gadzooks, and dirt cheap, too! (Click on the image to blow it up real big.)

Does the notsupermarket actually sell all of these? I can't imagine it does. I should put a little chalkmark on each one and return after two weeks to see how many are still there. I think these squash are on display mainly to look nice. They do that well. Most people never try anything new when they shop for groceries. They buy the same twenty or thirty items every trip. When I'm checking out, I'm usually the only person in the place who has produce other than a few bananas or apples in the cart. And yes, of course I always look in other people's carts. I study them carefully because it's a competition: who can shop for the best groceries. I am currently undefeated.