Shopping at the Asian grocery store

[kimpossible]

Some of my earliest memories are struggling in my mom's arms to get to the rice candy on the shelf at my grandmother's Asian food store. That was back in the day though, we called it an Oriental Grocery. Hey it was a small podunk town in NY, it's not like we were going to be confused with lots of other Asian food stores.

Anyhow, it's interesting to come from the family that was the purveyor of Asian groceries in a predominantly 'white' area to becoming the whitey shopping at Asian food stores on the West Coast. These days I need more Chinese groceries than Japanese, so I changed stores last year. I used to go to the big shiny Japanese store but the prices have gotten outrageous and they push a lot of Hawaiian food. Nothing wrong with Hawaiian food but I need Japanese and Chinese ingredients. So I changed to the dingier, run down Japanese-store-bought-out-by-Taiwanese. Prices are a HELL of a lot better and they have what I need (wu hua ro, beef shank, you-tiao, bitter melon, CHEAP ginger, little seaweed bow ties I can stew, etc), but it's a total trip when I go in because everyone's like "Whoah -- who let whitey in?"

That was my little ironic hapa tale for the day.

[Hiroshi2]

The asian store i go to always has a mixed crowd of blacks, whites, and asians ;)

I love the little chocolate crackerstick type thingy they sell in the japanese secton though.

[tapestrybabe]

there's a korean owned vegetable store in my hometown i shop at... my hometown isnt really heavily populated with asians tho... a mix crowd of blacks and hispanics usually shop there... and like when i visit... the owners... they sometimes tend to start speaking in korean to me... i just wish i knew how to communicate with them back in korean... all i know how to say is Ahn nyung...

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by Hello_Hapa@Nov 30 2002, 06:40 PM
but it's a total trip when I go in because everyone's like "Whoah -- who let whitey in?"
hhahhah i want to watch their faces and their stares as you go around the store being familiar with the things that they're selling and knowing what the things are that you're buying. i mean i personally aren't surprised by the few WASP people that i see sometimes adventuring into these stores and supermarkets, but they're usually wondering what everything on the shelves are. i think i would be looking too if i saw a WASP person really knowing his or her way around the store.

the supermarket that i go to now is korean owned and pretty much only fobby people go there. this applies to asians as well as hispanic people. actually it's funny because even the white people that go there don't speak english very well. they're from eastern europe or something. :P

[kimpossible]

There are a variety of stores where I live. The big shiny Japanese store gets virtually all the non-Asian $$ which is why the stock is changing and the prices are going up. You get ppl coming for the experience of buying items from an Asian store. Where I shop is dimly lit, kind of dirty, rundown and full of Chinese fobs. Well that's not true, they sell Mexican goodies too. So it's like 90% Chinese fob and 10% Mexican so the butchers will speak just enough Mandarin to clean fish, ask amounts, say thank you, etc. But if you want to buy something there you really have to know what it is that you want because there aren't separate labels in English. Either you know what you want and need it or you don't.

Come to think of it I haven't seen any Japanese there since it was bought out. I have another Malaysian Chinese store I go to for my seafood because I can buy it still kickin'. Every time I buy something they ask me the same damn thing: "How you gonna cook this?"

[axi0m]

Originally posted by Hiroshi2@Nov 30 2002, 11:42 PM
The asian store i go to always has a mixed crowd of blacks, whites, and asians ;)

I love the little chocolate crackerstick type thingy they sell in the japanese secton though.
Crackerstick thingy? Pocky? That stuff is pretty good, I like Yan-Yan's better though. :)

-Satoshi-

[thaite]

The one I go to is pretty nice and offers a great deal of variety across the Asian ethnicities. One aisle is even labled "Holland food" for the Euro-influenced Asian cultures.

Mostly fobby people working there, a few AAs, some hapas, a few Mexicans in the meat/butcher dept.

The customers stretch across the board, but look mostly Chinese. I've seen all kinds of Asian, including many I can't place, others are Mexican, Jamaican and other black ethnicities.

It's funny watching the white guys there. Some will be inside, tagging along with their wives -- others refuse to even step inside, wating in their cars in the parking lot.

[enygma]

Originally posted by Hiroshi2@Nov 30 2002, 03:42 PM
The asian store i go to always has a mixed crowd of blacks, whites, and asians ;)

I love the little chocolate crackerstick type thingy they sell in the japanese secton though.
yay! pocky sticks! i love those hanguk shik-puhms "korean grocery stores". there are some crackers, candies, and ice cream you can't get anywhere else except at an asian grocery store. i'm so glad that there's such a large asian population at this school that there's an asian store.

[thaite]

Originally posted by enygma@Dec 3 2002, 05:18 PM
[QUOTE=Hiroshi2,Nov 30 2002, 03:42 PM]... and ice cream you can't get anywhere else except at an asian grocery store.
No kidding! What's with the avocado-flavored ice cream?

Anybody try that? Any good?

[kimpossible]

Originally posted by buoywonder@Dec 4 2002, 10:40 AM
No kidding! What's with the avocado-flavored ice cream?

Anybody try that? Any good?
No way man. You want Haagen-Daaz green tea ice cream. Or mochi ice cream. Now that's the shit. Kaaru cheese curls too, ooh plus the curry flavored ones. yum.

Haven't had lunch yet, can you tell?

[thaite]

And I like durians just fine, but I know enough to know that it probably doesn't make good ice cream, even though they have it.

I haven't had lunch either.

[AliBabaIncorporated]

Anyone ever tried corn ice cream? My grandma loves that stuff ...

[BeTheReds]

My ealriest memories of the Asian store was DISKOR which was supposed to be an abbreviated form of Distributor and Korean.

I remember trying to get the rice candies and milk candies, and the man at the store always asking my dad when he was gonna sell me to him. I didn't quite understand it, but it scared the shit out of me.

I remember watching football there and eating some chigye on the house when I was a kid.

Then the first lotte in the area opened up in Annandale and the downtown silver spring demographics changed to mostly west african and hispanic immigrants and all the Koreans picked up and moved to Va to be close to Lotte. Koreatown DC was born.

And sadly DISCOR could not compete. The store changed to sell chinese stuff, and now it is a Jamaican food store the last time i checked.

[enygma]

Originally posted by Hello_Hapa@Dec 4 2002, 11:50 AM
Originally posted by buoywonder@Dec 4 2002, 10:40 AM
No kidding! What's with the avocado-flavored ice cream?

Anybody try that? Any good?
No way man. You want Haagen-Daaz green tea ice cream. Or mochi ice cream. Now that's the shit. Kaaru cheese curls too, ooh plus the curry flavored ones. yum.

Haven't had lunch yet, can you tell?
also, melona bars!

[Hanuman]

Originally posted by buoywonder@Dec 4 2002, 06:36 PM
And I like durians just fine, but I know enough to know that it probably doesn't make good ice cream, even though they have it.

I haven't had lunch either.
I had the Durien icecream in Thailand, it was pretty good, once you got past the stink.

[thaite]

Maybe it's me, becuase I don't think durians stink. And I don't think kimchi stinks either -- in fact, it sets my mouth watering.

[iris]

oh duriun, you stinky stinky fruit. :gross:

I can't get past the smell. I always pick up some ribs and a duck hanging from the window and then run to the Asian bakery next door. Yum.

[Hiroshi2]

Heh heh, durian fruits are the ones that supposedly smell like *ahem* WOMAN, right? :P

[kimpossible]

Heh heh, durian fruits are the ones that supposedly smell like *ahem* WOMAN, right?

dude, that's foul. now i am NEVER, EVER going to try durian.

[Hiroshi2]

lol yeah i heard that if a man likes to eat durians, then more than likely, he's willing to go downtown :P

[thaite]

Did I mention that durian sets my mouth watering?