Many Westerners arriving in Hong Kong are fearful about buying their food at the wet markets and I was told that I should do everything from washing my vegetables in Conde's crystals to sterilising them in a solution of Milton's (a sterilising solution for baby bottles). I did none of these things.

We bought and ate local for seven years and suffered no ill effects. My rationale was that the restaurants that I was going to were certainly not buying their produce at the most expensive supermarkets in Hong Kong and I doubted that the supermarkets were doing more than repackaging market produce anyway.

We bought vegetables, fruit and fish at the wet markets. We also bought our tofu there and the fresh tofu is delicious. It is one of the things that we miss sorely from our time there. Learn to cultivate a taste as it is cheap, good for you and an incredibly versatile product - it can be steamed, boiled, fried, scrambled or roasted depending on whether you purchase firm or soft tofu.

We experimented with meat at the markets and when goat was available I would buy it as our houseboy made excellent goat curries. I didn't buy any of the Chinese dried sausages or dried fish but we always bought the small local quail eggs and salted eggs.

If traditional supermarket shopping is more your thing Hong Kong offers a great range of products at both Wellcome and Park'n'Shop and both of these chains also have well designed websites so you can purchase direct on the internet. Home delivery is the norm and you can get all of your shopping delivered to your house for either a nominal charge or for free, although you may have to take the cold items with you.

Speciality shops are increasing across the island as well and Oliver's in the Prince's Building in Central offers a range of imported and gourmet foods as well as many prepared items. They are a great place for speciality seasonal items such as Halloween bits and pieces, Easter eggs, etc. GrEat located at Pacific Place is similar and has an excellent fresh food range with an in-house bakery, butcher and fishmonger. Many of these places will also source or prepare speciality items for you if you approach them direct or are prepared to do a large order.

The magazine Dollarsaver, which is distributed free of charge across the island to householders, lists other smaller companies such as organic farms offering fresh produce, small importers, bakers etc and is a good source of information on other aspects of living in Hong Kong.