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Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

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Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#111

Post by xiaosun »

tn135 wrote: post #66

As a fish loving Indian, I was totally surprised to see that in Capitalist America the choice of fish was absolutely pathetic. At American fish places you only get "shrimps" may be "large shrimps" and "small shrimps". Salmon, Bass, Red Snapper and just few handful of usual fish. My small village fish market offers at least 20 varieties of fish in India's coastal region. A proper fish market would offer at least 100.…

I think this has to do with the type of fish typically used in western cuisine, which is heavily biased to larger fish that can be cooked as filets or have less bones.

Asian cuisine makes much greater use of smaller fish that are oftentimes cooked whole, so the range of options tends to be larger as well.

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#112

Post by graphitezepp »

look_lookatme wrote: post #74
tn135 wrote: post #66

As a fish loving Indian, I was totally surprised to see that in Capitalist America the choice of fish was absolutely pathetic. At American fish places you only get "shrimps" may be "large shrimps" and "small shrimps". Salmon, Bass, Red Snapper and just few handful of usual fish. My small village fish market offers at least 20 varieties of fish in India's coastal region. A proper fish market would offer at least 100.…

For whatever reason Americans just don't eat a lot of seafood. This is why the choices are so bad in "Capitalist America" -- there's not enough demand. It's literally capitalism at work. Some theorize that this is due to American's avoiding flavor in general [1]. http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/07/01/327248504/the...

At least will be used to it for when fish prices (probably) go up in the future global due to poor environmental conditions in the ocean. Gotta look on the bright side I guess.

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#113

Post by tmalsburg2 »

nyolfen wrote: post #103
look_lookatme wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For whatever reason Americans just don't eat a lot of seafood. This is why the choices are so bad in "Capitalist America" -- there's not enough demand. It's literally capitalism at work. Some theorize that this is due to American's avoiding flavor in general [1]. http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/07/01/327248504/the...

i think the answer is simply that most of america is very far inland, and seafood is best fresh -- especially if one is especially sensitive to the 'fishy' taste it acquires after about a day or two, even frozen. every coastal community i've ever spent time in has a plethora of seafood restaurants, though i'm not sure if this extends to grocery stores.

Most of the landmass is far from the coasts, true, but the population concentrates at the coasts. So the geography is probably not the reason why fish is less popular in the US. There are probably multiple reasons but one could be that the competition from meat is very strong. Coming from Europe, I was always surprised how cheap meat is in the US.

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#114

Post by erikpukinskis »

civilian wrote: post #110
sleepingeights wrote: post #75

Capitalism in America means as close to monopolization and price gouging as much as possible. Even Silicon Valley is a very close approximation to a monopoly, sponsored by masses of delusional participants deluded into thinking they're accepted within the same ranks. The people in the US eat only two types of meat, a handful of types of vegetables and crops. Also the cost of fish in the US is very high because the US…

You might get something out of this article: http://www.americanteeth.org/2015/06/21/why-i-m-a-capitalist... If " Capitalism in America means as close to monopolization and price gouging as possible. " is your definition of capitalism, then you're off. (And I think that may be why you're being disagreed/downvoted on.) If you think that monopolization and price gouging is an emergent property of capitalism in America-…

> My [...] view [is] that a free market [...] only leads to monopolies when they're already providing the best service

Where does this belief come from? Is it just an article of faith for you? I've never seen any science to that effect, and there would appear to be no shortage of counterexamples.

What would be the incentive to offer the best service once you are a market leader? It seems obvious to me that in many cases it is cheaper to interfere with competitors than it is to match their level of service. I see no reason why that would cease to be true even in a world without government (although government is certainly a frequent collaborator in such interference.)

And I'm not talking about heinous interference, like bombing your competitor's factory. Even misleading advertising can often do the trick. Would you make statements in advertising subject to civil claims? If I can show you made technically factual but misleading statements to the public about the differences between our products I am entitled to recover lost sales from you?

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#115

Post by __jal »

metaphorm wrote: post #33

this rarely gets mentioned in these articles but it's extremely important. The Chinese food culture is substantially different than the Western food culture, and I don't just mean the items on the menu. Chinese don't eat raw foods at all, and especially not vegetables, which they correctly (by the standards of Chinatown produce) view as being unsanitary until thoroughly cooked. They have created a market that is effi…

I'd hardly describe the food found in NYC Chinatown markets unsanitary, and never felt any reason not to eat them raw they same way I would from BigCoMart - you wash and inspect.

If anything, I'd expect fewer golf balls in my food.

http://nypost.com/2017/04/22/chopped-golf-balls-in-hash-brow...

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#116

Post by a3n »

bjt wrote: post #6

This feels like the proverbial dollar left on the street that economists say should not exist, so I'm racking my brain trying to figure out what's stopping chains from replicating this. I wonder whether this alternate network is as scrupulous about source tracking and food safety regulations. Those costs could be driving up prices on the traditional retail side.

There are not enough people in an American metro area to distribute this variety across stores across the area. The produce departments sell what the computers report as margin friendly.

There are enough people in a metro area who want this and are willing to go to the asian district to get it. The five or 20 families in a subdivision who want this are not enough for all the Safeways and Krogers in the subdivision to stock this food. But enough handfuls of those families across the area are willing to go to the few stores concentrated "in the asian district" to make it viable for those few stores.

This is also capitalism at work. Huge markets and niches both have ways to operate.

As for tracking and safety, as others on this page have noted, knowledgeable (and alert) shoppers and proper preparation go a long way to promoting food safety at the end-use end of the chain.

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#117

Post by js2 »

look_lookatme wrote: post #74
tn135 wrote: post #66

As a fish loving Indian, I was totally surprised to see that in Capitalist America the choice of fish was absolutely pathetic. At American fish places you only get "shrimps" may be "large shrimps" and "small shrimps". Salmon, Bass, Red Snapper and just few handful of usual fish. My small village fish market offers at least 20 varieties of fish in India's coastal region. A proper fish market would offer at least 100.…

For whatever reason Americans just don't eat a lot of seafood. This is why the choices are so bad in "Capitalist America" -- there's not enough demand. It's literally capitalism at work. Some theorize that this is due to American's avoiding flavor in general [1]. http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/07/01/327248504/the...

The author interviewed in this piece is the subject of a recent Frontline: The Fish on My Plate.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/the-fish-on-my-plate/

It's about his experiment of eating fish as his only protein for a whole year, as well as an investigation of where our fish comes from, fish farming practices, sustainability, etc.

Aside, it may be a good thing Americans don't eat as much seafood as the rest of the world. I'm not sure the oceans could keep up with the demand. Allegedly very few fisheries are well managed.

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#118

Post by vram22 »

gutnor wrote: post #102
look_lookatme wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For whatever reason Americans just don't eat a lot of seafood. This is why the choices are so bad in "Capitalist America" -- there's not enough demand. It's literally capitalism at work. Some theorize that this is due to American's avoiding flavor in general [1]. http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/07/01/327248504/the...

Same in the UK btw. The fish choice in the biggest supermarket is smaller than you would expect in local store in the middle of Spain, away from the coast. Same thing happens with meat. There is a huge reduction of variety, even at the local fishmonger/butcher, compared to continental Europe (I'm sure it is coming though) A limited choice is available all the time everywhere, but the variety is not anymore.

Interesting. Due to commercialization? Possible some of the same is happening in India on some fronts, food or other, not studied it, just anecdotal, hence asking.

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#119

Post by metaphorm »

rifung wrote: post #107
metaphorm wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lastly, Chinese people love raw seafood - sushi, oysters, etc. Which Chinese people? There are approximately zero sushi restaurants in Manhattan Chinatown. There are a whole bunch of sushi restaurants in adjacent SoHo, which is filled with non-Chinese yuppies. anecdotal: took my Chinese co-worker to The Pokespot takeout for lunch and he immediately turned around and went somewhere else when he saw that the menu con…

Since sushi is Japanese, doesn't it make sense that it would be found in Little Tokyo instead of Chinatown? Maybe there are lots of Chinese people eating it outside of Chinatown?

there's a huge number of sushi restaurants all over New York and a lot of them are not authentically Japanese nor are they owned or operated by Japanese Americans.

Sushi is very popular in New York, much more popular than the Japanese population alone would support. There are sushi restaurants in neighborhoods where the residents enjoy sushi. The absence of them in Chinatown is an indicator that the residents there (> 90% Chinese immigrants) don't like sushi.

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#120

Post by metaphorm »

ithinkinstereo wrote: post #106
metaphorm wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lastly, Chinese people love raw seafood - sushi, oysters, etc. Which Chinese people? There are approximately zero sushi restaurants in Manhattan Chinatown. There are a whole bunch of sushi restaurants in adjacent SoHo, which is filled with non-Chinese yuppies. anecdotal: took my Chinese co-worker to The Pokespot takeout for lunch and he immediately turned around and went somewhere else when he saw that the menu con…

Sushi is quite popular with the Chinese, both in the states with ABCs as well as in the mainland. See this article for one datapoint: http://www.worldfishing.net/news101/Comment/analysis/norway-...

interesting, and a very recent trend. the population of 1st generation Chinese immigrants in Chinatown have not developed a taste for sushi though.
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