In Asia, it’s often cheaper to buy food outside rather than cooking at home, whereas in Europe, the ratio is completely reversed. Also, culturally, everyone is often taking food and bring it back home.
I can see some reasons that might explain this, such as the cost of labor or stricter health regulations in Europe compared to Asia. But even with these factors in mind, it doesn’t explain it all.
Of course, I understand that it’s not feasible to replicate a model like Thailand’s street food culture in Europe. The regulations and cost of labor would likely make it impossible to achieve such competitive prices. But if we look at a place like Taiwan, for example, where street food is less common and instead, you have more buffet-style restaurants where you can get takeaway or eat on-site for around €3, while cooking the same meal at home might cost between €1.50. The price difference is barely 2x, which is still very far from the situation in Europe.
Why isn’t something like this possible in Europe?
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With zero evidence, I wonder if the combination of heat and humidity in SE Asia hasn’t contributed (in a small way) to the difference, at least in some small way.
In colder and/or dryer climates, food would likely last a little bit longer prior to refrigeration, so having a few more days worth of food at home would make more sense.
Why buy a week’s worth of meat if it’ll be rotting by Wednesday?
It might be more efficient to just buy a meal of cooked food as your primary source of nutrition from a centralized source that’s supplied daily from the countryside.
That being said, I know open air markets were very common in Europe. But I think people bought a higher percentage of “cooking ingredients”… maybe.
I wildly speculate.
Source: Shit I just made up.
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