Why Some Cuisines Are More Expensive Than Others • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Some Cuisines Are More Expensive Than Others

#61

Post by mc32 » Sat, Jul 16, 2016, 3:25 AM UTC

fma wrote: post #54

I'll always favor eating real Chinese food than American food. You go to a decent American restaurant, for $20-$30+ you get a plate for yourself. For $15 at a real Chinese restaurant, you get enough food for yourself and share with another. The food comes out in mere minutes, even in a busy restaurant. Chinese food is meant to be shared. You go to a western restaurant, you order a plate for one person. A real Chinese…

>A real Chinese restaurant has round tables

Round tables are for big parties. Restaurants in China, Taiwan, Malaysia, etc. have two person and four person tables as well. They also have shared food and non-shared food. It really depends on the restaurant type and the meal you're ordering as well as occasion. (Recall, some people eat lunch by themselves --most take it to go, some eat on premises.) You will see the round tables at "banquet" restaurants, many in hotels, but not all.

Restaurant food in China, Malaysia, Taiwan, etc. is not all that different from the ones you find in neighborhoods which cater to a ex-pat or first or second generation Asians. They both cook with packaged ingredients, it cuts costs, rather than from scratch as you might at home or _some_ street vendors (many street vendors are franchised).

Re: Why Some Cuisines Are More Expensive Than Others

#62

Post by wtbob » Sat, Jul 16, 2016, 3:56 AM UTC

CuriouslyC wrote: post #14

beat wrote: post #11

Something not really touched on here is how poor people's ethnic food can become fashionable and achieve high prices and desirability, often far outside its origins. Consider the recent bone broth craze, for example. Here in Minneapolis, the current trend is Southern food, often made by hipsters who grew up in Minnesota and have no real cultural ties to the South. For me, with my half-southern roots, it's kind of biz…

As someone who lives and has traveled extensively in the south, I have to say that from a culinary standpoint the food is the best example of a true American cuisine. New England also has a cuisine with cultural heritage, but it isn't as quintessentially American as barbecue/southern food.

And then there are things within the South like Tidewater food, which up until the past century was still a combination of English-settler and aboriginal food: pork and squash, just like our ancestors ate at Jamestown or soon after. It's almost completely extinct now, which IMHO is a damn shame: it can be delicious and filling, and — unlike so many of the cuisines in this country — really is native at this point (the English heritage took root in the Tidewater over 400 years ago, so I consider it native).

Re: Why Some Cuisines Are More Expensive Than Others

#63

Post by chiph » Sat, Jul 16, 2016, 4:04 AM UTC

riot504 wrote: post #43

beat wrote: post #11

Something not really touched on here is how poor people's ethnic food can become fashionable and achieve high prices and desirability, often far outside its origins. Consider the recent bone broth craze, for example. Here in Minneapolis, the current trend is Southern food, often made by hipsters who grew up in Minnesota and have no real cultural ties to the South. For me, with my half-southern roots, it's kind of biz…

I am southern (New Orleans, live in Idaho now) and love collard greens, but they are super cheap to make. Also, fried pork chops, catfish etc... southern/Cajun is hands down the best food in the world. Nothing is more hipster than paying a high price for bologna sandwich.

The hard part about preparing collards is making sure you washed all the sand out of them. In rural Georgia and the Carolinas, you'll see an old washing machine on the back porch that's used just for that purpose - throw the greens in there, short cycle on cold (no soap of course!) and they're ready for cooking.

BBQ is another southern classic. Whether it's Eastern NC style chopped pork with vinegar sauce, or Texas smoked brisket served dry, it's all good.

Re: Why Some Cuisines Are More Expensive Than Others

#64

Post by thaumasiotes » Sat, Jul 16, 2016, 4:07 AM UTC

beat wrote: post #35

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Sydney, I've noticed the better places to eat are increasingly becoming the cheaper restaurants.

Minneapolis has an amazing food scene, driven by localvore ingredients (we're farm country) and hipster-casual "fine dining". It's a hard town for traditional fine-dining restaurants. The really good eating is split between the hipster places and southeast Asian ethnic restaurants. For $50/person, you can get a shockingly good meal here, and you can wear jeans and a t-shirt eating it.

I hope your comment was dictated and you meant $15 / person? $50 is ludicrously expensive.

Re: Why Some Cuisines Are More Expensive Than Others

#65

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jul 16, 2016, 4:07 AM UTC

beat wrote: post #35

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Sydney, I've noticed the better places to eat are increasingly becoming the cheaper restaurants.

Minneapolis has an amazing food scene, driven by localvore ingredients (we're farm country) and hipster-casual "fine dining". It's a hard town for traditional fine-dining restaurants. The really good eating is split between the hipster places and southeast Asian ethnic restaurants. For $50/person, you can get a shockingly good meal here, and you can wear jeans and a t-shirt eating it.

[deleted]

Re: Why Some Cuisines Are More Expensive Than Others

#66

Post by pandaman » Sat, Jul 16, 2016, 4:10 AM UTC

beat wrote: post #40

tcj_phx wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Consider the recent bone broth craze, for example. Broths made with cartilage and bone are much more nutritious than muscle proteins. Humans have traditionally eaten as much of the animal as they could, for efficiency. Incorporating the types of amino acids in the rest of the animal in addition to the meat is more compatible with wellness. Bone broth is a correction of a mistake, not a "craze".

Not knocking bone broth as a food - it's wonderful. But as the latest "magic ingredient", as Michael Pollan would put it? Yeah. Bone broth is a pain for restaurants to make. Doing it right takes very long cook times. It won't last as a trend, and people sure as heck aren't going to make it themselves, unless they're nerds (my daughter makes fish and duck bone broths at home, but she's a nerd - and half the time she c…

I have not seen straight bone broth restaurants but ramen shops had been a thing for decades and don't seem to go away. Ramen is based on a broth, which might not be only from bone (even though there is tonkotsu ramen too) but still takes dozens of hours to cook.

Re: Why Some Cuisines Are More Expensive Than Others

#67

Post by thaumasiotes » Sat, Jul 16, 2016, 4:10 AM UTC

samatman wrote: post #32

"And when Latin American and Asian food also become American food, it will be a signal that the country has at last embraced a new generation of Americans." I found this peculiar, given that the US has no fewer than four distinct regional "Mexican" cuisines, not found in Mexico. These are Tex-Mex, California Mexican food (e.g. the fabulous Mission burrito), New Mexican food, and American Mexican food (think chimichan…

> middle-white America has been eating tacos (with the crispy shell, itself a US development) for at least two generations. They're about as American as Chef Boyardee at this point.

My dad likes to tell the story of his mother, who came from Durango, encountering the concept of "tacos" for the first time... in California. He's always had a hard time thinking of them as "Mexican food".

Re: Why Some Cuisines Are More Expensive Than Others

#68

Post by horsecaptin » Sat, Jul 16, 2016, 4:12 AM UTC

fma wrote: post #54

I'll always favor eating real Chinese food than American food. You go to a decent American restaurant, for $20-$30+ you get a plate for yourself. For $15 at a real Chinese restaurant, you get enough food for yourself and share with another. The food comes out in mere minutes, even in a busy restaurant. Chinese food is meant to be shared. You go to a western restaurant, you order a plate for one person. A real Chinese…

Shared food and fighting over who pays is also very much a part of Indian culture. As well as freshness - fresh ingredients make for much more delicious curry =)

Re: Why Some Cuisines Are More Expensive Than Others

#69

Post by thaumasiotes » Sat, Jul 16, 2016, 4:12 AM UTC

Maultasche wrote: post #46

Spellman wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on how back you go I suppose. In modern cuisine, if it's got avocados, it's Californian! If you want to go much further back, you get Mexican food.

Having lived most of my life in California, I was surprised to discover there was such a thing as "California" food when I traveled to the East Coast about 10 years ago. It turns out that "California" food there was food that involved avocados. I had never heard of such a thing before. Avocados are definitely eaten in California, and they have been for as long as I remember, but I'm not under the impression that it d…

> Maybe eating avocados was so foreign to the rest of the country that it became associated with California.

It's not hard to explain. They won't grow in the rest of the country. They do grow in Mexico; I understand NAFTA hit the California avocado business pretty hard.

Re: Why Some Cuisines Are More Expensive Than Others

#70

Post by ricree » Sat, Jul 16, 2016, 4:16 AM UTC

beat wrote: post #7

There's a formula for restaurant finance - 30% ingredients, 30% labor, 30% rent and other overhead, and (hopefully) 10% profit. This is broadly true across the industry, at all price points. Much of the higher cost of "nice" restaurants is higher quality ingredients (this is especially true of pricey sushi-dominated Japanese, which pays a premium for the best fish). An additional cost is prestigious locations. Becaus…

Anecdotally, I've heard from a number of people that catering is one of the larger profit centers for restaurants that do it, with the dine-in service acting almost like a marketing tool, or sometimes even a loss leader.