Over here you Americans are in the ethnic isle;
It's very on point that American food culture is just big corporate brands.
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Do you find ethnic sections of the grocery store problematic?
- Thread starter Nida
- Start date
It's very on point that American food culture is just big corporate brands.
Over here you Americans are in the ethnic isle;
Lol I didn't even know Welch's still existed.
That is twice as large as any supermarket American section I've ever seen. So many pop-tarts!Over here you Americans are in the ethnic isle;
Absolutely not. Are restaurants that focus on certain ethnic foods racist? Cuisine varies immensely around the world, and the ethnic diversity of it is a very real thing whether you find it "problematic" or not. People like being able to shop easily for certain types of food.
Nah, I get what the original post is saying. It doesn't strike me as evil, but the point is that, say, tortillas won't be with the wheat items in the grocery store, separated like everything else.
It's all just mashed together in a couple aisles as "this is the ethnic food."
I've had one experience that was annoying like this. I was looking for a particular type of jam in the jam aisles, only to find out only American jams were there. What I was looking for was with the Mexican food.
And that's just annoying.
It's all just mashed together in a couple aisles as "this is the ethnic food."
I've had one experience that was annoying like this. I was looking for a particular type of jam in the jam aisles, only to find out only American jams were there. What I was looking for was with the Mexican food.
And that's just annoying.
Nope, they're extremely helpful when I can't make it to the ethnic markets around town. It makes it a lot easier to filter through and find the more unique items I need for a dish, than to have to push all the "American" products around to find what I need on the shelves.
Oh that stings a bit. Especially since 90% of the local store's ethnic aisle is also junk food, just from Japan or Mexico this time.Over here you Americans are in the ethnic isle;
The HEB's in Austin have German in the ethnic section.
Depends on your region. I've always grown up with tortillas next to the rest of the bread.
Possibly. Going forward, all jams will be in the jam aisle, WHERE IT MAKES SENSE, and people will be like "you guys really had it in the Mexican section back then?"
Oddly, in terms of tortillas, my job has a small section on the Hispanic aisle, then a much larger selection both with the bread and on a display by itself near the ground beef.
Lol, yall just pick the worst stuff for that?Over here you Americans are in the ethnic isle;
I mean, I've been to some cheaper stores in very undiverse neighborhoods where the Asian foods section really is just a sad little display of store brand General Tso's sauce or whatever, but in most stores it's a genuine imports section. Like the article points out the comparison between Italian ingredients getting mainstreamed, but we've sort of dodged that since there's a de facto Italian section that we just call the pasta aisle instead. And ingredients do move out of the Asian and Hispanic sections as they mainstream. Most stores have tortillas with bread, not in the Hispanic foods section with the imported hot sauces and dried chilis and Mexican sodas. Soy sauce and sriracha have pretty commonly moved to just condiments, while the Asian foods section is for more specific fermented bean pastes and all that.
I guess it's a little off that bamboo shoots and water chestnuts aren't with the other canned vegetables, but it's also probably reflective of real shopping patterns that people are more likely to buy those together than they are to buy either in combination with tomatoes or whatever. You could be really steadfast about not doing sorting by ethnic character of the ingredients, but you'd still end up with de facto ethnic areas like you do with pasta, just around salsa and soy products or whatever.
I guess it's a little off that bamboo shoots and water chestnuts aren't with the other canned vegetables, but it's also probably reflective of real shopping patterns that people are more likely to buy those together than they are to buy either in combination with tomatoes or whatever. You could be really steadfast about not doing sorting by ethnic character of the ingredients, but you'd still end up with de facto ethnic areas like you do with pasta, just around salsa and soy products or whatever.
That's usually the case with most international sections though.
I'm not sure how other stores are but my local Valli has separate aisles for a bunch of different regions. We have Mexico, Italy, Greece/Bulgaria, Poland, Middle East, India, and East Asia.
Yeah, see, I don't even think that's obviously racist. It's just inconsistent and inconvenient.
Inconvenient for me, in particular.
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I just saw the OP updated with the article. Comparing it to Jim Crow laws - which were forced upon American citizens and used as an excuse for degradation and violence - is specious at best, and completely ignorant at worst.
Supermarkets in Sweden sometimes have an "American aisle" with goodies from the US that you normally wouldn't find in Sweden like Reese's butter cups and weird candy like that. Are we being racist towards Americans for having this aisle?
If you mean they will just be integrated so that all the spices etc are in one spot, I agree. Right now I like it because the "Latin" spices are often cheaper and I think that's the real reason they want them separated.
Would some Americans object to their culture being labeled international?
It's a big stretch to find this aisle an issue. The main grocery store I go to even has a small section dedicated to British brands.
I mean, would it be better to have a Mexican or a Chinese food section? It may be that the whole idea of 'let's get Chinese food tonight' is problematic, but I'm not the person to answer that.
Sometimes it's not international though. My store used to have beignet mix in that aisle.
I am in Canada and our local Save On Foods has a British section next to the South Asian section, lol. I get what the OP is trying to say, but organizing by geographic location kind of makes sense, and I'm not familiar with any non-European-background people who are bothered by it.
For reference, in that store there are aisles that refer to "Mexican," "British," "Asian," and "International." The main thing that bothers me is that a local Superstore has two aisles side by side that say "World Foods" and "International." Like, what the hell is the difference? lol.
For reference, in that store there are aisles that refer to "Mexican," "British," "Asian," and "International." The main thing that bothers me is that a local Superstore has two aisles side by side that say "World Foods" and "International." Like, what the hell is the difference? lol.
User Banned (2 Weeks): Dismissive and inflammatory generalizations. Characterizing concern about racism in America as being overblown.
This is some true first world problem if you ask me.
I'm Italian and our food culture can definitely be super elitist and closeminded, very adverse to "other ingredients". Hell, even Curry as a concept is not very widespread, like at all. I like foreign food isles. I can find Peanut Butter, Maple Syrup and stuff that is normally not known/used in regular local cuisine.
Am i culturally appropriating if i wanna make some damn curry? Seriously, you Americans make race issues out of absolutely nothing. That article reads like shit stirring of the first degree at best and downright ignorant at worst. Absurd point of view.
I'm Italian and our food culture can definitely be super elitist and closeminded, very adverse to "other ingredients". Hell, even Curry as a concept is not very widespread, like at all. I like foreign food isles. I can find Peanut Butter, Maple Syrup and stuff that is normally not known/used in regular local cuisine.
Am i culturally appropriating if i wanna make some damn curry? Seriously, you Americans make race issues out of absolutely nothing. That article reads like shit stirring of the first degree at best and downright ignorant at worst. Absurd point of view.
At least at my local grocery stores, British, French, and German products are also in these ethnic section
In Texas you normally wind up with a "Mexican Products" aisle which are imported products from Mexico. Things like Tortillas are in the bread aisle, so it's more special-use imported goods.
Now, the Asian aisle tends to be basically all sorts of noodles from different foods mixed together and oyster sauce hanging out with Soy Sauce and then like curry powder in the corner next to dried kelp. It's not problematic but it's kind of hilariously sorted in ways that make it hard to find stuff. But it also makes sense, they are slower-moving items and putting Soy Sauce or Rice Vinegar on the Vinegar aisle won't lead to better sales.
Now, the Asian aisle tends to be basically all sorts of noodles from different foods mixed together and oyster sauce hanging out with Soy Sauce and then like curry powder in the corner next to dried kelp. It's not problematic but it's kind of hilariously sorted in ways that make it hard to find stuff. But it also makes sense, they are slower-moving items and putting Soy Sauce or Rice Vinegar on the Vinegar aisle won't lead to better sales.
Yep. Here in Houston I've been to a couple Krogers and HEBs that had a bigger tortilla section than the bread one.
Cultural appropriation in food: When a majority of ethnic cuisine recipes on the web are written by white people, who gets to have authority in food?
https://apple.news/AEHkymt_CTqyI16AYwk2GFQ http://www.intersectionalanalyst.com/intersectional-analyst/2017/1/7/who-gets-to-be-an-authority-on-ethnic-cuisines As we're all cooking during the quarantine, I thought this was a pretty interesting topic. Asian cookbooks written by Asian cooks...
www.resetera.com
You raise a good point: Lucky Charms should be in the ethnic food aisle. They're problematically delicious
This, too, but unfortunately that's more because in the US we like to conflate nationality with ethnicity.
That being said, I completely ignore the "Asian" or "Mexican" aisles in chains like Ralph's, because the selection is small and often catered towards people who are not of that descent. The brands you find in those aisles are like...how do I say this...not the most...authentic. Definitely not the best tasting brands, and usually only one kind that's overly Americanized.
Why would I go there when I can go to 99 Ranch Market (Chinese grocery store), Mitsuwa (Japanese grocery store), or Zion/Hmart (Korean grocery store)? We have Indian grocery stores, Vietnamese, Persian, Mexican. If I'm looking for rice, I want there to be over fifty kinds of white rice. I want ten different types of black vinegar. I want twenty kinds of sesame oil.
Ralph's/Whole Foods/Sprouts, in my mind, are considered white grocery stores.
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For example, I've never seen this za-cha sauce sold in any "Asian" aisle, but it's literally a goddamn staple if you're Taiwanese. Like are you actually Taiwanese if you don't have a can of this at home?????
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I mean it can be, and definitely used to be. As pointed out in the article it used to be a way to segregate the undesirables, but that's definitely not the intent anymore. And sure having taco bell in the mexican section would be an offense, but having a mexican section in itself shouldn't be. It's just an easy shortcut to get the ingredients if you're going to be cooking a dish from a certain region. I shop primarily at a gigantic international grocer (Jungle Jims). Half of their store is the international section divided by country. If I'm making a peruvian dish I go to the aisle with the Peru label on it and can usually find most of the sauces or uncommon dried spices I need for the meal. I'd hate to have to scour the entire store trying to find ogbono seeds for a stew instead of just heading right to the african section and picking out what I need.
If you go to a grocery store in Taiwan, they aren't going to have hamburger helper hanging out with the daikon radishes. It's gonna be in some section cordoned off as American. Grocers cater to the food culture they exist in, and to see offense in the idea that it's a separate section is a bit of a stretch. Now it can be problematic if the Chinese section gets reduced to instant ramen and pfchang meals, but the idea of having separate grocery aisles for different cuisines isn't itself a problem.
If you go to a grocery store in Taiwan, they aren't going to have hamburger helper hanging out with the daikon radishes. It's gonna be in some section cordoned off as American. Grocers cater to the food culture they exist in, and to see offense in the idea that it's a separate section is a bit of a stretch. Now it can be problematic if the Chinese section gets reduced to instant ramen and pfchang meals, but the idea of having separate grocery aisles for different cuisines isn't itself a problem.
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No. Keeping food types grouped up together is due to convenience not racism. It makes shopping easier for everyone.
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Good place to ask this... Teriyaki sauce from local teriyaki places is sweet. But every teriyaki sauce I've bought from the store is like pure salt.
Is the sweet version more authentic, or is it Americanized?
Is the sweet version more authentic, or is it Americanized?
Hum, we don't really have these things here, things are mixed up with their own similars, like... the pita bread is near the other bread, the soy sauce is next to other sauces, etc.