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> others cooking for you as a non-luxury item Interestingly, this sounds more like a regression, since in most urban but poor countries it's already cheaper to
by 9nGQluzmnq3M 6y ago
> others cooking for you as a non-luxury item
Interestingly, this sounds more like a regression, since in most urban but poor countries it's already cheaper to eat out than prepare food yourself. This comes down to the cost of labor: a restaurant can buy in bulk cheaper than you can and prepare in batches larger than you can, so they'll be cheaper than you as long as their labor cost doesn't obliterate the advantage. In Europe or Australia it does, so eating out is a luxury; in India or China it does not.
Obviously this is a generalization, there are countries that buck the trend (eg Japan) and some meals that are still cheaper to DIY. But I don't think we'll get to techno-utopia here until robotic food preparation goes from gimmick to mass market, and we're still a long way off.
- Ericson2314 6y agoYes I absolutely agree. While I think it's generally good when luxuries become widespread, this isn't so good if just means some sort of mass middle class is exploiting some underclass. And we must always be vigilant for low labor costs being laundered as some sort of efficient tech (e.g. Uber in suburbs/rural is just inherently inefficient). It's a cruel irony as-under priced labor is the bellwether for inefficiency. That said, I hope there's something between now and full italicization that can be economically while paying the few remaining chefs well. Cities should absolutely price-control the shit out of these cloud kitchens since they will be so dependent on the public good that is efficient land use.
- arcturus17 6y agoIn India in China it’s viable for whom? Is it viable for people at or below the median?