Times are tough folks. Although the U.S. is not “technically” in a recession, it sure feels like one, whether or not one is in Korea, the states or elsewhere. So, what is one to do with rising oil and food costs vs. lowering incomes? Well, a Los Angeles pop journal called CityBeat says go Korean:
A cheap cure for being hungry and broke: Slap a slice of Wonder Bread on a plate (paper, if you got ’em). Dump a load of sugar on the sucker and drown it in milk. The shamefully delectable result is a gritty white-trash mush that passes for food in lean times….
…Oh, please. This is L.A.! Our world-famous emaciated urbanites shan’t be seen slurping discounted gut-rot just to survive… And we certainly can’t quit throwing fabulous flashy foodie bashes overnight, even when we can’t cough up rent. So… I’m dragging your broke asses to the heart and Seoul (aww, cute) of Koreatown, home to our city’s cheapest, and surprisingly healthiest, groceries. Pack some Tums, cheapsters, because it’s about to get spicy up in here…
Cheap, good and healthy Korean food? Maybe some things are different in the states, however, some things are not:
Our destination is the venerable Hannam Supermarket…. The parking lot is a crash test dummy lab with real dummies, so drive (and run for your life) carefully.
Interesting read. Some may even experience a little déjà vu of when they first discovered the idiosyncrasies of shopping in a Korean market. The advantage that an L.A. hipster has over an expat? The hipster can drive back to americana as soon as he’s done shopping.
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
Although the variety of items found on the shelves has improved in the many years I’ve been in Korea, I hardly ever find anything that is appealing to my tastes when I go shopping…and I like Korean food.
The writer obvisouly hasn’t discovered the new China town of Los Angeles in San Gabriel Valley where you can get three types stir fries, steam rice and soup for less than $5 in a supermarket food court..My Korean diet of kimchi go along very well to lessen the grease. Then again I must admit the parking lot is much more horrible than K-town supermarket….
Sid,
The San Gabriel Valley is too far away for the L.A. hipsters…
These guys are going to Koreatown from Park La Brea, Miracle Mile, North Hollywood, etc. 3 to 5 miles vs. over a dozen.
Siddhartha, hmmm, so you are getting some rice and some soup (main ingredient = water). Buy your own rice and beans by 25lb bags, and you can survive on very little.
by the way, how do the Chinese sell streetfood so cheap?
wjk, you really don’t wanna know.
Actually one should hasten to add here that many (if not most) Korean food components are much cheaper and of better quality in the US (cheap high quality garlic, cabbage, peppers, beef…)
#4
I know but eating veggie Korean banchan everyday without any much of meat is difficult…
#6
pls share on what you know, as far I am aware it is difficult to find a rat or dog to cook here in N America so if you try to be funny…it isn’t!
“by the way, how do the Chinese sell streetfood so cheap?”
Sure, it’s cheap…but do you really want to eat intestine soup?
Hmm. Interesting read. Thanks.
The author’s writing style was a bit 오버. Every sentence had to have a pun, quip, exclamation mark – or something to make it not boring! It probably relates to her being Canadian.
Actually, that market is a block from Vermont and Olympic. My hagwon was across the street. Fond memories of trying to get over there and back with a pastry in the 10-minute break time we had between classes.
I had a co-teacher friend who was pregnant. She was a regular shopper there until she was with child, at which time she said that she couldn’t even enter the parking lot without the strong smells overpowering her and making her nauseous. So I’d take her order and go pick up something for the two of us. Good times.
What a crappy writer Kim LaChance is.
“I know but eating veggie Korean banchan everyday without any much of meat is difficult…”
Yeah Sid, but it’s soooo good for you!
# 10, I think it has less with her being Canadian and more with her being (or trying to be) an L.A. hipster…
You worked in K-Town?
In the US, poor folks eat McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell/KFC, Popeyes, etc….not Korean food.
“McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell/KFC, Popeyes, etc…”
Eating that shit everyday is a death wish.
I don’t know if I’m ahead of the curve or just old, but I was shopping regularly at the old California Market in 1987, when there was nary a hipster to be seen.
Generally speaking, the grocery prices at Hannam is better than Ranch 99. I used to shop at the Hannam in Walnut. However, other Korean markets like Fresia are over-priced.
As a generalization, dining at Korean restaurants will cost more than Chinese restaurants, but at higher-end Chinese restaurants they serve more extravagant stuff.
In America, obesity is the #1 health problem for the poor. It’s a country where rich people are skinny and poor people are fat. In South Orange County, preschool will cost you $800-$900/month and your get gets organic veggies, tofu, and rice for lunch. In poorer parts of LA, preschool costs $300/month and the kids are fed fried chicken and fizzypop.
#12 네, I worked in Koreatown. Did you?
#15 When you say the “old” California market, I wonder to what you are referring. I know of only the one on Western. Was there another? Thanks.
Nah… I play, shop and eat in k-town.
Dogbert,
The hipsters I’m talking about now are a little different than the older version of the word.
Best definition I can find in 30 seconds of googling.
In 1987 those “hipsters” were still kids in Western LA.
And they damn sure weren’t in Koreatown, which seems to be a lot less edgy part of town now than it was then.
By “old” California market I just meant it has been there awhile. AFAIK it still is. But apropos of the article, it was selling the same type of inexpensive street stall food the hipsters have apparently discovered.
Come to think of it, I did once see Tom Waits buying a pack of cigarettes there back in the day.
by the way, how do the Chinese sell streetfood so cheap?
A combination of illegal immigrant labor, high-volume sales and intense competition (with other Chinese vendors). A lot of these places last a few years and then close.
I suspect this kind of thing is possible with some Korean dishes, but nobody has stepped up to the plate as yet. At the same time, I also think that the Cantonese cuisine that makes up most of the Chinese food outside of China (despite all of the misleading labels – Hunan, Szechuan, et al, added on for more of an air of exoticism) is less of an acquired taste than Korean food, because of its relative blandness. Anyone who tried to do cheap, high volume Korean food outside of Korea might find it hard to generate the high volume necessary to make this model work.
It’s starting to work for Korean bbq since it’s at the cusp of going mainstream and they have some critical mass. Korean bbq jips in LA are competing against themselves at that level. At the all you can eat places they compete via quanity and incentive packages. One jip is $8.99 all you can eat, but you only get chadol and samgyupsal. Another place is $10.99 chadol and samgyupsal, but for $19.99 they add black pig samgyupsal and galbi in addition to ALL YOU CAN DRINK soju!!!
$19.99 for all you can eat chadol, samgyupsal, black pig samgyup and galbi AND all you can drink Chamisul soju! Woohoo!!!
The key is to be like Japanese food and not even compete via price and quantity. The goal is to work less, make more, not work like a dog for pennies…
The key is to be like Japanese food and not even compete via price and quantity.
I think there are different market segments involved. There is both low and high end Chinese food. There’s only high end Korean food. Like I said, I think it’s an acquired taste.
The goal is to work less, make more, not work like a dog for pennies…
I’m sure everyone would like to kick back and get paid for doing nothing. The reality is that the person who discovers a low priced, high volume mass market for Korean food stands to make a fortune, if that niche even exists to be discovered. (That is, if the masses can be convinced that Korean food isn’t an acquired taste). Note that the whole point of running a restaurant isn’t to think deep thoughts while waiting for customers – it’s to maximize the amount of profit per dollar invested. If it takes a lot of work to maximize profits – that’s what employees are for.
McDonald’s doesn’t make the best burgers in the world, but it makes among the cheapest and most consistent. It is also one of the most profitable restaurant chains around, if not the most profitable – more so than Starbucks, Mortons, etc – in terms of net margin per dollar of revenues. How do they do it? In a word, volume. Each item is low revenue, but they sell a lot of items to a lot of customers.
FYI Zhang Fei,
Korean street vendor food in the U.S.:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/l-stre.....washington
http://www.yelp.com/biz/bulgog.....t-new-york
http://midtownlunch.com/blog/2.....er-review/
http://flyboyz.wordpress.com/2.....t-kitchen/
http://midtownlunch.com/blog/2.....er-review/
You must log in to post a comment.