Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016) • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#321

Post by meric » Wed, May 03, 2017, 5:20 AM UTC

contingencies wrote: post #276

digitalzombie wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Interestingly the Vietnamese, by contrast, are very much in to rare meats. I blame the French. Indochina happened. The biggest evidence for this is Vietnamese word for beef is Bo. Which is a borrowed French word. http://www.asian-central.com/stuffasianpeoplelike/2010/05/21...

It does seem likely that bo is French boeuf -derived, but according to Wiktionary[0] the historical Vietnamese pronunciation of the Chinese character for beef (牛) was ngưu, ngọ, ngỏ, ngõ, ngâu . It is interesting that these are so similar to pan-Taic languages neua and Cantonese ngau . [0] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E7%89%9B#Vietnamese

Probably because two thousand plus years ago the area that is now called Guangdong, and the area that is now Vietnam, was inhabited by the same people; And then the Guangdong area was conquered by China. The people who lived in Guangdong inter-married with the Chinese migrating south and also had a lot of influence on Cantonese. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southward_expansion_of_the_Han...

Vietnam is "Yue-nam" in Chinese, and Cantonese is "Yue-yu" in Chinese, whose literal meaning is "Language of Yue".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baiyue

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#322

Post by thaumasiotes » Wed, May 03, 2017, 5:36 AM UTC

mtempm wrote: post #265

satori99 wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't fish for dinner near big cities in Australia though. It can be just as bad as anywhere else. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-16/health-warning-over-fi... http://www.fishingworld.com.au/news/toxins-found-at-popular-...

Those links appear to warn of fishing around Sydney harbour and Oyster Bay. I still would bet almost anywhere along the proper beach is at least an order of magnitude safer than in comparable regions of the states. Many beaches I consistently saw heaps of guys surf casting.

> Many beaches I consistently saw heaps of guys surf casting.

You can easily observe locals fishing in the river(s) running through Shanghai. The fact that they do it doesn't mean those fish are safe to eat.

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#323

Post by [deleted] » Wed, May 03, 2017, 5:37 AM UTC

clairity wrote: post #144

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

no need to go abroad for that. there's a mr. pizza in LA's koreatown. =)

[deleted]

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#324

Post by dang » Wed, May 03, 2017, 5:37 AM UTC

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…

Would you please stop posting ideological rants to HN? They're destructive of the thoughtful discussion we're hoping for here, and we ban accounts that use the site primarily for this sort of argument, regardless of ideological flavor.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14249249 and marked it off-topic.

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#325

Post by Camillo » Wed, May 03, 2017, 5:46 AM UTC

stupidhn wrote: post #208

smhost wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The stereotype is pass around among restaurant owners as well. It's not a secret that the American palate is picky and easy to understand. Avoid foods that are mushy, gooey, slimy, or "weird" (even though most food is like that), and try to make it crispy, sweet, and/or salty. Sushi is gross, but put the rice on the outside (beacuse eww seaweed) and cover it in sweet sauce, and suddenly it's delicious. Chinese food i…

> Granted, Americans have gotten a lot better at food and culture in general in the past decade ever since the hipster/foodie-ism thing American culture, in general , has improved thanks to 10 years of hipsters? Where are you from?

"Culture" in American vernacular essentially means non-anglo food (90%) plus festivals and other folk things (10%). I know, it's weird.

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#326

Post by smallnamespace » Wed, May 03, 2017, 6:02 AM UTC

brianwawok wrote: post #298

smallnamespace wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this is actually a terrible thing in the long run for one simple reason: fisheries are being destroyed everywhere [1], and the US is the only nation currently with the clout to really push to change this. But since seafood isn't even on most Americans' radar and we live in a democracy, it's very unlikely any politician will ever spend political capital on it. Fisheries are being destroyed is because blue water fi…

Can we really stop China and Japan from hoovering up fish and whales? Historically we have not had much success. Also why should America have to be the fish police, on top of all the other polices we are. What if I would rather spend the fish police money on universal healthcare and free college tuition for fellow Americans?

I'm not making a moral case that America should police the seas, but simply pointing out the practical reality that the US Navy actually does control them, and hence we're the natural party to propose and also enforce any agreement.

The truth is that if the US does nothing, mass fishery collapse is the most probable outcome. It will hurt poor, seafood-consuming nations much more than it hurts the US.

Is this more important than any of our other priorities? That's up for you to decide.

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#327

Post by ido » Wed, May 03, 2017, 6:11 AM UTC

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #237

davidw wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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 The US is a wealthy place, but a lot of individual families aren't wealthy at all. Cheap, mass-produced, pre-prepared food (either frozen or in cans/boxes) are the cheapest things to eat. Where I lived - a few hour…

OT but doesn't learning common household skills like cooking the parents' responsiblity? I've never learned it at school

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#328

Post by engx » Wed, May 03, 2017, 6:16 AM UTC

brianwawok wrote: post #298

smallnamespace wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this is actually a terrible thing in the long run for one simple reason: fisheries are being destroyed everywhere [1], and the US is the only nation currently with the clout to really push to change this. But since seafood isn't even on most Americans' radar and we live in a democracy, it's very unlikely any politician will ever spend political capital on it. Fisheries are being destroyed is because blue water fi…

Can we really stop China and Japan from hoovering up fish and whales? Historically we have not had much success. Also why should America have to be the fish police, on top of all the other polices we are. What if I would rather spend the fish police money on universal healthcare and free college tuition for fellow Americans?

America should be helping fight for a world where we don't need fish police. In other words, we should encourage governments that naturally want to act in a reasonable, secular-based manner.

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#329

Post by devdas » Wed, May 03, 2017, 6:23 AM UTC

dep_b wrote: post #283

briandear wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mexican food was a favorite of mine in the United States, but in France it tastes like cardboard. I want to find but France doesn't sell it. This conversation can be had in literally any country in the world. Can't find a decent cheeseburger in Delhi, can't find decent cheese in Shanghai, nearly impossible to find good tequila in Germany. Every country has foods they're good at and foods they're not. As far as the de…

Hmm I remember living in a middle-sized city in The Netherlands that probably most things were available in good quality as long as you knew where to look. Mexican food I can't judge, but Indian or Thai or REAL Chinese food wasn't a problem, with a few options to pick often. Italian and French of course. Good burgers yes. There's of course a difference in culture. You can't find sesos even at the best butcher shops w…

I can speak to the lack of real Indian food in the Netherlands, there's about one restaurant in Amsterdam which serves proper food. The rest all serve British Indian Restaurant cuisine, which is the equivalent of Febo representing all Dutch food.

Re: Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)

#330

Post by mtempm » Wed, May 03, 2017, 6:24 AM UTC

thaumasiotes wrote: post #322

mtempm wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those links appear to warn of fishing around Sydney harbour and Oyster Bay. I still would bet almost anywhere along the proper beach is at least an order of magnitude safer than in comparable regions of the states. Many beaches I consistently saw heaps of guys surf casting.

> Many beaches I consistently saw heaps of guys surf casting. You can easily observe locals fishing in the river(s) running through Shanghai. The fact that they do it doesn't mean those fish are safe to eat.

Sure but Australia has a $22/hr min wage and absurdly good welfare and you can eat potato chips on it all day ig you want. China is rougher. But yes of course just because many do something does not mean its a good idea, but analyzing what others are doing may be food for thought when deciding where a placr is relaticely good to fish or not.