Why is the food culture in Asia so different compared to Europe?

Question

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?

In: Other

Answer 1

I would like to point out that it isn’t so cut-and-dry when looking at the home vs restaurant price ratio across entire continents.

I don’t have a lot of firsthand knowledge of Asian ‘hospitality economies’ (food, restaurants, hotels, etc), so I’m going to focus mostly on the European side of the equation…

While many countries it is much more expensive to eat outside of the house, in others it can be very affordable.

Spain is a good example of this, and people quite often eat outside of the home multiple times per week.

If you look at the Spanish custom of ‘Tapas’, while it isn’t exactly the same as the Asian ‘street food’ culture, it’s probably the closest in terms of price and ease of access. There are plenty of places where you can order a wine, beer, or soft drink for <3€ and it will come with a Tapa, a small plate of food that could be anything from a few slices of cured meat on a slice of bread all the way to a plate of rice, fried fish, a hamburger, etc….it is entirely possible to have a full meal and drinks for ~10€ this way, even in big cities like Madrid (such as in the bar [El Tigre](https://maps.app.goo.gl/Snf23bsv4nNgyzar5)