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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One cultural factor may be that Asians eat a lot more times in a day compared to Western cultures and have a higher amount of social activity out of the house in a given day/week.
In the morning, you may wake up at 6 and start with a simple coffee and toast at home. Then you make your way to the office and get there by 8ish and may go to the coffee shop for a morning snack with your office mates before you start your day. Then you get lunch around 12/1. At around 3, you take a break and have tea, where either your whole team goes out to the nearby stall (5 min walk) or someone gets something back for everyone. Day ends at 6/7, and you either go home and make dinner or get it with your mates, then you may do some social activity like browse the malls, catch a movie etc. After that, it’s supper time (宵夜), where you get a drink and some snacks.
All this means there’s a high demand for food outside of the house. High demand means vendors can have lower profit margin as the volume makes up for it.
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