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Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

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Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#131

Post by ethbro »

throwaway2048 wrote: post #49
paulddraper wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Markets also cut costs by eschewing extra technology and certain aesthetic choices—the Journal points out that shelves “are typically made of plywood and lined with newsprint,” prices are scrawled on cardboard instead of printed on stickers, and credit cards are not always accepted. Some people don't want to buy food with cardboard signs and cash. Hell, I've heard California even has people who are fans of convenie…

Its a conditioning thing, if thats how you had always bought vegetables it wouldn't be odd to you at all.

I may be showing my roots here, but I've never bought a cantaloupe off the back of a beat up farm truck that wasn't delicious.

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#132

Post by seanmcdirmid »

joss82 wrote: post #86
tomcam wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OTOH try getting a real salad in China

Or, god forbid, a pizza!

Mr. Pizza has you covered. A Korean chain in Beijing, who believe corn mayonnaise pizza is a good thing. At least Chinese pizzerias don't use ketchup as tomatoes sauce anymore....those were the days!

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#133

Post by ithinkinstereo »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #122
stcredzero wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China is not Chinatown Said dozens of times by my Chinese-born girlfriend in SF Chinatown: "I have no idea what this is." "This is weird."

Born where? I believe west coast Chinatowns were built by Cantonese and separated by 100+ years. See the recent post about american chinese food.

That's correct. The first influx of Chinese immigrants were mostly from the south. After the CCP took over, immigration from the mainland basically ceased. During the 60s-80s most of the Chinese immigrants that were not from HK were from Taiwan.

Immigration from the mainland started picking up after the Cultural Revolution in the late 70s / early 80s through now.

"Chinese" food in the US is mostly Cantonese food. Only fairly recently have you seen an uptick of non-canton style food. The latest trend is Sichuan / Chongqing style of cuisine (spicy!).

My favorite Chinese regional cuisine is Xinjiang cai (food of the uighurs, China's muslim minority group). Very tasty - lots of bbq meats, delicious noodles, and spicy. Also bonus that its halal/kosher.

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#134

Post by seanmcdirmid »

tomcam wrote: post #81
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.…

OTOH try getting a real salad in China

That used to be harder than it is today. The one thing I could never get in china, however, was western style sausage. They just don't make it anywhere in china, so overly frozen imports are the only option.

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#136

Post by et-al »

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-...

To clarify, sushi is a recent development in mainland China. The article linked to agrees with that. However, rewind to pre-2000 China, and it'd be rare to find a sushi joint outside of a high-end hotel.

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#137

Post by et-al »

ithinkinstereo wrote: post #129
metaphorm wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 (…

Your observations basically boil down to "my co-worker, who is Chinese, does not like raw fish, therefore..." There are plenty of sushi restaurants in Chinatown: https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=sushi&start=0&l=p:NY:N... There are also traditional - and popular - Chinese dishes that involve raw fish: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusheng You have to understand that Chinese people are huge gluttons (I say this wi…

re: Yunsheng

> Place of origin: Singapore

Generally, when we say Chinese, we refer to mainland China and Taiwan, not the Chinese Diaspora. This would be like saying Indian people love chicken tikka masala.

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#138

Post by metaphorm »

ithinkinstereo wrote: post #129
metaphorm wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 (…

Your observations basically boil down to "my co-worker, who is Chinese, does not like raw fish, therefore..." There are plenty of sushi restaurants in Chinatown: https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=sushi&start=0&l=p:NY:N... There are also traditional - and popular - Chinese dishes that involve raw fish: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusheng You have to understand that Chinese people are huge gluttons (I say this wi…

I offered an anecdote, which I did not claim was an argument. Please don't be deliberately uncharitable.

Did you check the results of your yelp search? that's 2 restaurants that are actually in Chinatown and actually serve sushi. An unusually small number for a neighborhood with one of the highest density of restaurants in the city.

Did you read the wiki article you linked? this sentence is in the summary: "While versions of it are thought to have existed in China, the contemporary version was created and popularised[citation needed] in the 1960s amongst the ethnic Chinese community and its consumption has been associated with Chinese New Year festivities in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore." It's modern, and is a holiday feast meal served primarily by the Cantonese diaspora population. This isn't popular everyday eating, and is basically unknown on the mainland.

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#139

Post by leesalminen »

davidw wrote: post #128
opportune wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah all these people talking about Americans not having good taste in food are entirely missing the point. It has nothing to do with that, and everything to do with economics. There's no reason to eat fish when in almost all cases chicken, pork, and beef provide much cheaper and filling sources of protein. I mean, I love the taste of fish, but even I rarely eat it because it's just that much more efficient to feed m…

The US is a pretty wealthy place. I lived in Italy for something like 15 years, and people there eat a lot of fish too, of varying kinds. By and large, they do not have as much money as people do in the US. If it were only about efficiency, you'd probably just eat beans and rice, day in and day out, with a bit of this and that thrown in. Edit: BTW, this book has some interesting ideas about the US and food: http://am…

> If it were only about efficiency, you'd probably just eat beans and rice, day in and day out, with a bit of this and that thrown in.

Saving $1 > Saving $0

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#140

Post by seanmcdirmid »

rmxt wrote: post #88
Indy_Dh wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "and no sales tax ofcourse wink wink" Actually in CA, many groceries are not subject to sales tax, just FYI. I'm not sure where the distinction is drawn, but it seems like the less processed the food the less likely it will be taxed.

Not sure why this is downvoted. California, like many other jurisdictions, seems to make a distinction between groceries/"raw" foods, and "prepared foods" when it comes to sales taxes. Unprepared foods are generally exempt from sales tax, while store-prepared foods are not exempt. E.g. an unsliced bagel in NY is untaxed, but a sliced bagel can/must be taxed. Fruit and vegetables likely fall into the untaxed category.…

It is more complex that that: hot food might not be taxed if it is "to go" (Starbucks and their breakfast sandwiches ....), Whole Foods will always apply tax to its food bar items, the ice cream parlor down the street will apply sales tax if you say "for here" but not if they assume take out.

It is very very confusing, and I haven't really figured it out yet.

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