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I lived on henry street for a while, and I can't say that I know anything about the back end of the distribution network, but I can say this article is missing
by throwaway_bob 10y ago
I lived on henry street for a while, and I can't say that I know anything about the back end of the distribution network, but I can say this article is missing a lot of things about the front end. The produce is cheaper than a standard western store, but the quality is much more varied. Moreover, the market (in the economic sense) seems really efficient. If you see something cheap in Manhattan chinatown in every store, it might be a really good deal, and just that thing is in season or a lot of it was just delivered. But if something is cheap in just one store, it is probably in bad shape. Stores are willing to sell produce that simply wouldn't be sold in ordinary western stores; and do things I think wouldn't be allowed elsewhere. For example, I have seen one place where if they have baskets of strawberries, and some of the strawberries are getting moldy, they will by hand separate out the non moldy ones, toss the moldy ones, and repackage the baskets. Moreover, the stores don't bother to keep clean at all, you can smell them from a block away. If you like food shopping, and you pay attention, its great, but if you want to just get your food, it is a lot of work. I think most americans do not want this kind of tradeoff.
- seanmcdirmid 10y agoAnd this describes grocery shopping in China, not just Chinatown. I look forward to the day I can just go to a western supermarket and not have to worry about getting jipped on veggies...save so much work even if they cost a lot more money.
- zaroth 10y agoYou won't have to worry, you can rest assured you are absolutely getting jipped!
- danramteke 10y agoIs there away to say your meaning, but without the ethnic slur for being cheated financially?
- JabavuAdams 10y agoTo be fair, many educated and articulate people are totally unaware of this connotation.
- danramteke 10y agoYep - well if this thread didn't know before, perhaps they know now : )
- JabavuAdams 10y agoFYI "jipped" is actually spelled "gypped", which is a slur against Gypsies. I only raise this because I used to say it a lot, and was unaware of its etymology and connotations.
- elliotec 10y agoI'm in favor of re-spelling it as jipped, and removing the old connotation, because most people don't know that and it is a pretty common word now.
- pessimizer 10y agoChanging the spelling doesn't help. It's a pretty ugly word that I definitely used a lot as a child, and it took a while to get out of my vocabulary. edit: I also used to say "jewed down" as a kid. There's stuff that's better just to get rid of. edit 2: I've actually had people passionately explain to me why saying "nigger-rigged" was not a problem.
- r00fus 10y agoNot sure it works like that - you don't clean context just by changing the spelling.
- coldtea 10y agoYou do if people also don't jump at the chance to tie it to the old concept.
- e12e 10y agoPerhaps if you live in an area where the word "gypsy" isn't well-known - but it would be in most of Europe at least. And given the history of abuse and oppression (eg: forced sterilization, even before the nazi concentration camps) it's not really a word that should be forgotten - in the sense that forgetting history is a great way to later repeat the same mistakes, and commit similar abuse. I don't really see how "jipped" doesn't end up pronounced as "gypped" - so the connotation remains. FWIW the Moby Thesaurus lists a long litany of synonyms along the lines of "con man" and "cheat" for the term "gypper".
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- optforfon 10y agoThe fruit in China, at least in the big cities, is pristine. Apples are individually wrapped, everything is generally impeccable. You can get cheaper beat-up fruit in some food stalls at a cheaper price if you want.
- mc32 10y agoThey definitely missed the point about ugly fruit and vegetables. From speaking to some of the vendors of cheaper fruits and veggies at farmer's markets, some of them (but not all) buy the second dibs (what the supermarkets and their other obligations don't buy) as well as more irregular fruit and produce. Now, of course there is a growing ugly fruit and vegetable movement[1]. It's becoming more mainstream and even Whole Foods is buying in[2]. There is an effort in Boston to provide good affordable ugly fruit and vegetables to underserved communities. [1]http://www.eatingwell.com/food_news_origins/love_ugly_fruits_vegetables http://www.eatingwell.com/food_news_origins/love_ugly_fruits... [2]http://www.eater.com/2016/3/8/11178270/whole-foods-ugly-produce-starbucks-happy-mondays http://www.eater.com/2016/3/8/11178270/whole-foods-ugly-prod...
- DanBC 10y agoHere are two such schemes, and a BBC radio programme (available as MP3 download): http://www.frutafeia.pt/en http://www.frutafeia.pt/en http://www.uglyfruits.eu/ http://www.uglyfruits.eu/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05mpx0k http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05mpx0k
- kalleboo 10y agoAustralia too https://www.woolworths.com.au/Shop/Discover/our-brands/the-odd-bunch https://www.woolworths.com.au/Shop/Discover/our-brands/the-o...
- Scoundreller 10y ago> some of them (but not all) buy the second dibs (what the supermarkets and their other obligations don't buy) as well as more irregular fruit and produce. On top of that, the wholesalers know that these buyers will never pay a premium price, so they may get better deals on 1st tier items than mainstream supermarkets when the wholesaler really wants to sell.
- NicoJuicy 10y agoIn france it's already since 2014 ( the ugly fruit bowl) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-2693000/Forget-ugli-fruit-meet-ugly-fruit-bowl-French-supermarket-introduces-lumpy-misshapen-fruit-vegetables-sold-30-discount-combat-food-waste.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-2693000/Forge...
- tn13 10y agoI second that. It is very much like saying there is free healthcare in Venezuela. Fruits and Vegetables are cheaper in Mexican stories, Indian (dots) stores and Chinese Stores than say Walmart or Target. But they are in substantially lower quality. Of course if you are regular and you personally cook then you will have a very good understanding what which store has the cheaper and best stuff. In my experience Onions,Mangos from Mexican/Indian stores at par with expensive Onions in Walmart. Only Indian stores understand the subtle differences with Mango breeds. We go to Chinese stores mostly for fish and vegetables like Brocolli, Kale and Carrots.
- wutbrodo 10y ago> Indian (dots) stores Huh?
- sitharus 10y agoI think GP means Indians from India instead of American Indians but is using a racial stereotype to describe this.
- x1798DE 10y agoI understand that the dot/feather thing is considered crass, but I will say it's a bit overboard to be offended at it. The idea isn't that all India Indians have dots or whatever, it's just synechdoche, where one aspect of the broader culture stands in for the whole. Like if you said, "He's from America - suit not cowboy boots." (Referring to urban vs rural America) it would hardly be offensive as a stereotype.
- rinze 10y ago> For example, I have seen one place where if they have baskets of strawberries, and some of the strawberries are getting moldy, they will by hand separate out the non moldy ones, toss the moldy ones, and repackage the baskets. The financial crisis, explained with strawberries.
- patio11 10y agoWell, to approximate a synthetic CDO squared, you'd first put all the moldy strawberries in a new basket, label it "Strawberries", send it to the rating agency where it would be rated AAA American strawberries, and then sell firms their choice of the least, middling, or most risky slices of the basket of "AAA American strawberries."
- ethbro 10y agoYou forgot about also shorting the eventual result of those re-packaged strawberries by buying options on bismuth subsalicylate.
- Scoundreller 10y agoI'd be more worried about the molds (and their byproducts) being carcinogenic (e.g. Aflatoxins)
- praptak 10y agoThat would be gathering the moldy ones instead of tossing them. And perhaps putting them into an opaque "high risk, great price" strawberry basket.
- IanCal 10y agoTo torture an analogy further. There are lots and lots of strawberries of various different ages in a big pile. Some will be fine for the week and others are hours away from exploding in furry mould. Someone splits them into the newest and oldest strawberries, and attaches a higher price to the former. Someone then buys the older ones, and splits them again into the freshest and oldest. And so on, and so on until each group of strawberries is a set of near identical ages. Finally, a customer comes along looking for strawberries to supply Wimbledon. It's in two days! They find the basket of the very cheapest strawberries, and when asked how long they'll last they're told "Well, some will go off, but it's not like they'll all go off at the same time! As long as you buy them assuming maybe 5% will have gone off you'll be fine". One day later and 70% of them go mouldy and the rich folks at Wimbledon are shocked at the sudden shortage of strawberries.
- steveax 10y ago> For example, I have seen one place where if they have baskets of strawberries, and some of the strawberries are getting moldy, they will by hand separate out the non moldy ones, toss the moldy ones, and repackage the baskets. Having worked produce in both regular chain markets, and in "gourmet natural foods" markets, I can assure you that this is a common practice.
- ams6110 10y agoMakes sense to me. I get moldy strawberries so often at the local supermarket that I absolutely open the container and rumage around before I buy. If they bothered to remove the moldy ones for me, I'd appreciate it. What's the alternative? Should they be throwing away the entire container?
- steveax 10y agoAt some point in the ripening, handling the berries damages them enough that it's not worth it, but otherwise the practice is fine. At the gourmet market I worked at, pretty much all the berries were taken from the original flats they arrived in and repackaged (removing the bad berries along the way). Pro tip for delicate berries: when you get them home, remove them from the package they came in and store them in a broad container lined with paper towels, something big enough so they can be spread out with a minimum of stacking. They'll last much longer that way.
- developer2 10y agoMould is not like dirt that can just be rubbed off the product. If a package of strawberries has some mouldy berries in it, then that mould has already spread to its neighbours without being visible. All they're doing is repackaging the berries that don't have any visible mould on them, and that mould will grow very quickly. If you buy a supposedly "mould-free" bundle that was repackaged from a mouldy bundle, the entire batch is likely to rot within a day or two of purchase.
- kpil 10y agoThe mould is most likely growing because a few strawberries where damaged and the rest got strawberry juice on them. The mould is already there, just not visible, on all strawberries, waiting for some sugar and water...
- gbog 10y agoPicking the good strawberries and repackaging not only should be allowed, it should be mandatory. How are we gone so far away from (agricultural) reality that such a simple and necessary task is /forbidden/ ?
- hkmurakami 10y agoThis definitely happens outside of Chinatown as well. In fact there's a place at the border of Los Altos and Cupertino (right next to a Trader Joe's in fact) that deals with produce that is very close to expiration that was clearly sent over from other supermarkets. They also sell green that aren't "baby greens" -- i.e. they're grown a bit too mature and are now bitter and tougher than what the typical grocery store patron would like. Obviously the nutritional value is the same, so the place makes for a great source for smoothie ingredients and frozen fruits to be consumed at a later date.