I moved to lower Lower Eastside just a few blocks away from Chinatown two years ago. I can't really say the article is on the money. I was really excited when I moved here first and thought the grocery shopping would be the one of the pro's. While I don't cook home (so not much veggie), but I used to buy a lot of ready-to-eat fruits and snacks. Perhaps it's that particular supermarket I visit in Chinatown, but they cut corners and the quality is fairly low. I learned to never to buy anything packaged by the supermarket themselves. Perhaps, I should travel a bit further into Chinatown to enjoy the benefit of such supply network. But for now now, I go shop at the Whole Foods or Eastside Market for all my needs. I no longer want to mess with what I eat.
Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)
221–230 of 415 posts
Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
There’s one type of western sausage you can get everywhere, globally, easily.
Volkswagen Replacement Part # 199 398 500 A
That’s VW’s own self-produced currywurst (in the past also from VW’s own farms, now they outsource that part of the production chain): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen-Currywurst
Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would be surprised if major metro areas didn't have enough seafood demand to justify building inland fish farms to supply the urban centers.
People are also afraid of fish farms.
[citation needed]
In my experience, a minority of people pay attention to where their food comes from. I'd bet the average consumer purchasing fish wouldn't be able to tell you whether it was farmed or wild caught.
Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
Americans have also been scared away from eating a lot of fish over fears of mercury and PCB contamination. America is also a big place. Fresh fish spoils quickly. So no, you won't see a lot of selection at a midwestern supermarket. If you're near a coast, the selection and number of specialty seafood shops is a lot better.
I would be surprised if major metro areas didn't have enough seafood demand to justify building inland fish farms to supply the urban centers.
If you go to your Safeway, Publix, or Kroger, you'll probably find half the salmon to be farm-raised. And all the catfish.
Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)
#225this 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…
The Chinese food culture is substantially different than the Western food culture, and I don't just mean the items on the menu. Things I've noticed about the particular Chinese food culture of my girlfriend: Ginger goes in Chicken soup. Garlic does not. Broccoli is only cooked until bright green. Black pepper is used, basically never. All vegetables are to be rinsed, even the things in Trader Joe's packages that say…
These are pretty good general rules of thumb. Interestingly the Vietnamese, by contrast, are very much in to rare meats.
Broccoli and other vegetables are cooked only slightly because it is considered wasteful of the natural qualities of the food to overcook it (and probably because it wastes fuel also, which is also the reason for everything being cut small before cooking).
Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seconding buying spices from Indian markets. Here in NoVA you can get a pound of spice for as much as Safeway sells 2oz of it.
Spices from India can often have dangerous levels of salmonella and other contaminants. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/31/health/12-percent-of-us-sp...
Well, we have been buying spices from Indian grocery stores in Northern California for the last 15 years. BTW, the better known brands of Spices that you get in larger supermarket chains also are imported from India/Vietnam etc. So, not much of a difference other than the price for the brand/packaging, the supermarket expenses and margin percentage.
Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which we should all rejoice. Because the oceans are already being over fished to the point we're facing a very real likelihood of collapse. If Americans were pulling at the same rate as nations like Japan or India, we'd all be in a very bad place already.
Beef and pork are significantly worse than seafood in terms of environmental impact. There's nothing to celebrate in the sources of American protein. If America was as hungry for seafood as East Asia, fisheries would have depleted enough to create frighteningly high prices long ago, and we'd probably have a thriving aquaculture industry today.
I'm very skeptical of that claim, particularly wrt pork. Once we've completely depleted the oceans of wild fish stock and rely entirely aquaculture, then it'll be a fair comparison.
According to this article, based on CO2 production farmed salmon has the same impact as pork:
http://www.ewg.org/meateatersguide/a-meat-eaters-guide-to-climate-change-health-what-you-eat-matters/climate-and-environmental-impacts/
Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)
#228Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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 ca…
I don't want to believe that it's an article of faith for me :) I've heard convincing arguments for it, and the arguments against market monopolies haven't ever been satisfying. But, I also haven't taken a survey of all monopolies or wannabe-monopolies in history. Yeah, my view on monopolies comes from the base assumption that: "It's never cost-effective to try to interfere with the competition by either buying them…
I think that a lot of it is based on the general premise that market actors are nearly perfectly rational (which is the general premise in a lot of libertarian economic analysis, and, more broadly speaking, the Austrian school), which just doesn't hold up to practical observations.
Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
they don't strictly need refrigeration because of rapid turnover (most of the inventory sells same day) and because the buyers are knowledgable about what condition the produce really is. that said, if you've ever walked down Mott St. on a hot summer afternoon there will be no doubt in your nose that the produce isn't making the sanitation grade that you will find at Whole Foods.
Just recently bought fish in Whole Foods. From store to home ~ 25 minutes. Just after that time fish was smelling awful. So i'm not buy fish anymore there.
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Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)
#230This 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.
> 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…
I pay a service to do my grocery shopping for me. It's a bit of a markup, but I highly value my personal time, don't own a vehicle and have an extreme dislike of grocery stores. There's a great market for such services (gig economy).
Chicago Resident.