> It only seems cheaper because we don’t account for the labor and opportunity cost of the (usually) women who stay home to cook the meals. Well, there's a big

> It only seems cheaper because we don’t account for the labor and opportunity cost of the (usually) women who stay home to cook the meals. Well, there's a big difference in cuisines. For instance, I've been to plenty of great Indian lunch buffets, but most East/Southeast asian food is not amenable to buffet timing. If you saute a leafy green, you need to eat it right away, or else it gets all wilty. There's nothing sadder than a bunch of pathetic looking spinach over a chafing dish or under a heat lamp. Indian food usually tastes better the next day, after the flavors blend in to each other. As for making sense from an economic standpoint, we should all be eating lentils and rice with no seasoning, with some vitamin supplements once in a while. Problem is, nobody wants to do that.