I'm a Midwesterner living in NYC who shopped at Publix for the first time, and I see why Southerners are obsessed

Publix has 1,297 store locations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

I grew up in Wisconsin, where I grocery shopped at local chains like Sendik's and the Roundy's brand Metro Market. I now live in New York City, where I've tried out grocery giants like Wegman's.

Like Trader Joe's and Wegman's, the flower section featured bouquets as well as potted orchids.

Publix's deli counter served an array of meats, cheeses, and sandwich fixings.

Prices per roll ranged from $7 to $10.

There was also a freezer that stocked ice cream cakes.

It was decorated with artwork in various shades of Publix green.

The large refrigerated cheese section was on par with displays I've seen in Midwestern stores.

Against the back wall of the produce section, a sign advertised that the fresh fruit was hand-cut daily.

In addition to classic flavors like chocolate and chocolate chip cookie dough, Publix also offered flavors like moose tracks, cherry nut, and chocolate almond.

A classic '90s snack that was discontinued in 2012, Dunkaroos are back and taste just as good as I remembered.

"Kosher" is a word derived from the Hebrew term meaning "fit for consumption." A kosher diet is made up of foods that observant Jewish people are allowed to eat, according to a set of religious dietary laws as detailed in the Torah and codes of Jewish law.

As someone who observes this practice, I was surprised and grateful to find a large kosher section at Publix in Knoxville, where the Jewish community is relatively small. According to the local Jewish communal organization Chabad of Knoxville, all three Publix locations in the area have kosher sections.

I brought a few boxes of Publix's mac and cheese back home with me. It was that good.

The kitchenware section had enough pots, pans, utensils, and gadgets to fully stock a kitchen.

The display consisted mostly of sauces and spice rubs for some classic Southern barbeque.

A Southern breakfast staple, grits were shelved alongside oatmeal and granola.

Tennessee passed a permitless carry law last year, allowing people over the age of 21 to carry firearms without a permit as long as they have no criminal history and follow posted signage.

It's not a predominantly Southern policy — other states with permitless carry are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming. But as a Wisconsinite who now lives in New York, I've never lived in a state with these gun laws, so I was surprised by the wide selection of firearm magazines at the Publix I visited.

There was a counter with pharmacists on staff as well as shelves of items you'd find in a drugstore, like allergy medicine and cosmetics.

If I had forgotten any toiletries on my trip, I would have been able to find them here.

I was able to buy a replacement dongle for my headphones after mine stopped working on the flight to Tennessee. Aside from Targets and Walmarts with grocery sections, that's not something I've seen in grocery stores before.

While the Midwesterner in me loves chatting with grocery store cashiers, the New Yorker in me wants to get in and out as quickly as possible, so I opted for self check out.

If I lived near a Publix, I probably wouldn't need to shop anywhere else.