Dine out with a side of prejudice
There’s a disparity in what we expect or are willing to pay for certain cuisines from different parts of the world, writes Anna King Shahab.
In Auckland, at a top pasta restaurant, a bowl of handmade tagliatelle topped with a classic bolognese ragu costs $26. In the same city, at a top Sichuan Chinese restaurant, a bowl of handmade noodles topped with pork mince, fresh and preserved veges in a spicy broth costs $12.
We’ll get into some finer points later, but I’ll argue that when you strip away most other factors, the fact remains that on the whole, there’s a disparity in what we expect or are willing to pay for certain cuisines from different parts of the world.
Asian cuisines (including Indian, but with Japanese as an interesting exception) have becomes synonymous with ‘‘cheap eats’’. This is despite the fact that there’s a great deal of training to reach the level of skill required to cook in Asian kitchens. Mastering wok hei or the tandoor are prime examples.
Chand Sahrawat who runs Cassia, Sidart, and Sid at the French Cafe, with husband Sid, says that for a chef to learn how to cook on a tandoor (not even a skill taught in New Zealand institutions), ‘‘the whole thing takes three to five years of training’’.
There’s a high level of training, too, of course, in the traditional French school of cookery that feeds into fine-dining. A good chef makes you walk away from a meal wondering how the heck they managed to even create something so delicious, regardless of whether it’s a sevencourse degustation, or a bowl of wonton noodle soup.
The expectation for low prices in Asian restaurants comes not just from non-Asian diners. In many expat communities, there’s an expectation that prices be kept affordable and there’s a sensibility to this. Many Asian cultures tend to dine out frequently – when travelling in Asia you’ll notice that people eat at street stalls or in simple restaurants three (or more) times a day.
I’m not outwardly calling for a price hike – I love pocketing the change as much as the next person – but I do think it would be a good thing for all food-lovers to be aware when there’s disparity, and to consider at what cost the low prices. Sahrawat, who has employed chefs who have escaped exploitative conditions in other restaurants, says that if we want to raise minimum wages, ‘‘people will have to let go of the ‘deal mentality’ ’’ that pertains to certain ethnic cuisines.
In an industry with low profit margins, any increased cost to the restaurant (ethical meat and seafood, better wages, increased ambience, design, lighting, sound, front of house training, and so on) must translate into higher prices on the menu. But we’re stuck in a cycle that makes it hard for many restaurants to consider changing the bargain-priced format. I’d wager that if you stuck a bowl of those hand-pulled noodles made with free-range pork into a fancylooking restaurant, most customers still won’t value it at the same level as its pasta cousin.
Yet plenty of restaurateurs have found that if you create the fancy surrounds, use the ethical meat, but give the Asian dish a modern, possibly Western, twist, then you can charge more for it. That’s the direct opposite of the pasta dish: with things Italian, people want to be told it’s authentic, it’s artisan, it’s slow food – not fusion.
There’s a rift in communication: we’re ignorant as to the history behind those Asian dishes, whereas marketing has successfully instilled a sense of impressiveness and mystique around the perfect pasta – or sourdough, barbecued meat, pizza, charcuterie, sashimi.
OK, some of those examples use expensive ingredients – certainly sashimi does, but I will wager that of all the Asian noodle soup dishes, it will be Japanese ramen that breaks through the $20 a bowl mark in the mainstream because we’re already sold the story of Japanese cooks as craftspeople.
It’s about communication. We need to talk more about the fact that there are many cuisines, all requiring well-honed skills. We need to want to find out more about the dishes we like to eat from these cuisines, the techniques and ingredients involved, and the history behind them. Ask questions, gain respect – and things will taste even more delicious.