IT’S EASY TO EAT ASIAN

Cooking Vietnamese used to require a trip to an Asian market. No more.

WHENEVER I’ve had conversations about the feasibility of making good Asian food from regular grocery store ingredients, people react with raised eyebrows (scepticism) or a smile (pleasant surprise).

In fact, I developed all the recipes in my new book using ingredients purchased at mainstream supermarkets.

Despite the food cognoscenti thinking that supermarkets are plebeian, I’ve always loved them.

In May 1975, when my family and I visited our first supermarket, I was practically giddy. Piles of polished apples and oranges, tidy aisles, well-labelled products, meat neatly wrapped: the situation was far from the chaos of the open-air “wet market” that I regularly visited with our housekeeper. I learned to appreciate grocery shopping.

In the past few years, I’ve noticed that supermarkets have become much friendlier to Asian cuisines. Better and more authentic ingredients are available, as inventories have grown.

Checking out the Asian food sections wherever I travel, I’ve found excellent fish sauce, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, coconut milk and rice. Lemon grass, daikon and hot chillies are often found in the produce departments. Rice paper is easy to find, too. How did those changes happen? I called Phil Lempert, founder and editor of SupermarketGuru.com and a food industry analyst for 25 years.

Young people have affected inventories. “Millennials and Generation Z go to Instagram and look at a food photo and they re-create it. They’re willing to experiment,” Lempert said.

“They don’t care to be introduced to the chef in the back room and would rather just have great food no matter where it comes from. They’re value-conscious, do not want to be overcharged and want great quality.”

Decades ago, the initial growth of food television resulted in many hip foods being sold at gourmet stores and associated with expensive restaurants and celebrity chefs.

“That has changed a lot.”

Increased interest in global flavours combined with a strong natural food movement has also pushed such ingredients as fresh turmeric, coconut water and virgin coconut oil to mainstream stores.

Those items may be wonderful health boosters to some people, but to me, they’re game-changers for creating flavours that beautifully capture what I’ve enjoyed in Vietnam.