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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Former hawker here. The real reason why cooked food at hawker centres is cheap is because every hawker always use the cheapest raw materials.
Not only that: The oil used to cook and fry is reused for weeks. The chilli was made to last at least a month. Curry is reheated and added to the same perpetual pot.
Extra salt, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar and MSG are liberally added to balance flavours. 99% can never tell.
Here’s an advice: learn to cook.
Can you give some sources that it’s “cheaper to eat out than cook at home” in Asia? Cause that sure doesn’t track in my experience.
You mention Thailand, which is the country where I have spent the most time in Asia, and everyone I know cooks at home, and people that are poorer most certainly does.
I really like the food sharing culture in Asian countries, whereas in the west, if you suggest getting a dish where everyone takes it from, they look at you weird
As an amateur cook, the similarities between Italian and Thai and Malay food are constantly surprising. The difference is often the chili and lemongrass. If we still had Garum they’d be much closer still.
Which of the 48 Asian countries would you prefer to compare with which of the 50 European countries?
Actually in my country Vietnam families cook their own meal 90% of the time. The street foods are still cheap, but rice and pork and veggies are (literally) dirt cheap. Eating out is usually only on weekend outing/celebration. It’s also a cultural thing with a family meal being a core value of the culture and tradition.
That is not to say street foods are not prevalent. There are a LOT of them, and they are very cheap compared to western countries, and the portions are quite large with quite a healthy spread of nutrients. In fact lots of students who are either too lazy/busy to cook eats cheaper street foods such as Banh Mi to survive. It is not very sustainable though.
That said eating out in SEA is still way cheaper or equivalent to cooking at home in western countries. I moved from VN to GER so I cam back it up with experience lol.
Economies of scale apply but I don’t think food is ever cheaper outside in Asia. I lived in Singapore while studying and I ate at hawker centers almost every day. Believe it or not there are expensive and cheaper hawker centers. Place I interned at was a business park and sure enough all food items were 10$+, whereas I literally could buy a chicken fried rice for $1.5-2.5 at a hawker center next to an apartment complex.
I’d say hawker centers survive because of the massive customer base that they get. They could cook a food in under 30 seconds and potentially have hundreds of people an hour buying food. It just becomes a number game at that point.
It’s warm all year round so it’s economically viable to make a living out of selling street food.
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I’m from the Philippines. It is absolutely much cheaper to cook at home here than eat outside.
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