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
Stuff like that happened in Europe. When the Roman Empire was still a thing, about 2000 years ago, Rome was a packed city of about 1 million people living at ~14 km². A lot of people lived in insulae, cheaply build homes where kitchens were not allowed due to fire regulations. Yup, the ancient Romans already had such things.
So going to the tabernae (yup, tavern comes from that) were a thing, simple kitchens which cooked stuff for a cheap price. And they were a necessity to keep the population fed, because most of them could not cook at home.
Latest Answers