Asian Supermarket Structure

[Dialectic]

My folks came down to visit for the weekend, and as we always do when we're all together, we go to one of the giant T&T Asian Supermarkets that have been popping up around Toronto recently (they started in Vancouver, and I believe the owners are either Taiwanese or Hakka).

As I was walking down one of the aisles, it really hit me how the supermarket was "Asian" and not Chinese or Korean or Japanese or Thai or what have you. They sell products from a ton of different Asian countries, and Korean crackers (ha!), Chinese crackers, Thai crackers, and Japanese crackers all sit on the shelves in peace and harmony for people to peruse.

And naturally, I started thinking about seoulbrotherno1.

("I am like a strong Corean condom. Seoulbrotherno1 fucks with me ALL THE TIME.")

I generally agree with his position that there is no "Asian-American identity." It's like saying there's a "White" identity, when really, you have American Whites, Canadian Whites, various European Whites (who are trying to create a European identity and are encountering a ton of problems in the development of hte EU), you can even throw Russian Whites in there if you want. Anyway, the primary reason we have an Asian-American identity in North America is because we're all the same to the Whites, but unlike Blacks and Latinos, we're not as internally stable because "Asian" means nothing: we have different languages, cultures, thousand year-old beefs, and cultural xenophobia to overcome.

But at the same time, we can have an Asian supermarket. We can have large Asian populations in non-Asian countries, and have them all come together to eat, try each other's food, buy each other's shit, and perhaps even talk to each other on occasion. This is not insignificant, and this is very much tied to hte concept of an "Asian-American" or "North American Asian."

Can we not, then, create some sort of economic or social structure which "forces" (in a healthy and happy way) the various types of Asian-Americans to come together regularly, relate with one another, and cross-fertilize useful ideas (and even, heh heh, genetics, particularly if the healthy contributions of each culture can be maintained - and they can - while exclusivity structures are negated)?

To this extent, to the extent that we can all shop together at an Asian supermarket, do people of all generations - new immigrants, old folk, professionals, kids, ABCs/CBCs, FOBs, etc. - acknowledge (consciously or unconsciously) an "Asianness" which unifies us here in this crazy land of crumpets and crackers.

We should somehow adapt, or use this structure, to build more conscious social and economic structures.

[Infectious]

Speaking on the topic of supermarkets, I find that the No Frills in the Markham area have become "Chinese-ified" too. They have a BBQ meat section, a Gloucesters (patisserie), and a Chinese meat section.

It's a demographics thing. However, I've seen non-Chinese Asians in the Markham T&T like once. I'm not sure why (probably I wasn't looking for them.)

[da Tao]

A quick couple-of-lines-er.

I believe a supermarket is mainly an offspring of economy of scale and risk sharing - that it can afford to distribute products of different cultures on a trial basis... where as specialty stores that narrowly focuses on one sector is more vulnerable to market fluctuations and faces higher start-up costs separately.

I believe the answer to your questions lies in some simple observations... how many of us spend time to connect with others in a supermarket? with strangers? with mere aquaintances? And when we do interact with others in a supermarket, is it usually pleasant ("thanks for picking that up") or antagonistic ("you bitch took the last carton of soya milk")?

The structure then, must be adapted. People need ownership "into" a structure, people need a reason to work together... it is difficult to "force" people together in a supermarket because shopping is largely a voluntary activity. (Since there is no resource sharing, it is like individuals trying to forage food for their family unit.)

Somewhere deep down I think there is a solution... some sort of asian american equity fund / product / service the supermarket can sell to improve our lot... but I am quite skeptical about the whole idea about the supermarket thing.

Fuck, this is more like a whole mini-essay. "I hate this site! bah!"

[JadeDragon]

Just like you to take food analogies to the extreme, D. :P

I do agree with it though, but sometimes I feel that a supermarket-style structure for Asian-Americans could be misinterpreted by certain individuals, and thus be used to segregate people. After all, in a supermarket (well, the ones I've been to, at any rate), you do have a variety of choices, but often categorised into separate areas, and many shoppers tend to stick to what's tried-and-true and/or products from their country of origin.

You can have the existence of such a structure, but you'll need the "shoppers" to do their part too.

[Dialectic]

The reason I thought about this (and I should've been clearer in my original post) was that nothing was categorized by culture/ country of origin. It was all categorized by type of food. Hot chilis are all shelved together, cookies are all shelved together, teas are all shelved together, etc.

I figure if we're gonna all segregate along some lines, wouldn't it be nice if, instead of race, we did it by interests, qualifications, and general "types" of people? Of course, we'd still need a common language, which looks to be English, but I don't have a big problem with that.

Just like you to take food analogies to the extreme, D.

There are only two things I like more than eating .... :P

[seoulbrotherno1]

I think that it is interesting that the supermarket is set up the way it is. I think that it is a good model for Asian Nationalism. You are not going to bastardize the Corean crackers by putting it next to the Japanese crackers or whatever. However, mixing things up like this has some very concrete benefits:

1. It increases visibility. Various "ethnic" shoppers are exposed to products that they would otherwise not see.

2. It creates interest and curiousity. A Corean person shopping for peppers might be quite surpised at how potent the Southeast Asian variety are!

3. It facilities cross-cultural experiences. A Chinese shopper who comes across an unfamiliar Vietnamese ingredient may ask another shopper about how it is used.

While I am an advocate of "self-knowledge," that isn't exclusionary to cross-cultural experiences. In fact, "self-knowledge" is necessary to make those experiences genuine. It also provides a reference point from which to relate to others.

In America, various Asian ethnicities don't have enough power as individual blocs to wield any political power. Thus, AA identity is an essential political tool. I think that we should not only band together in America, but we should establish strong connections in our countries of origin and draw clout from there.

In a world that is slowly being compartmentalized into various "trading blocs," I think that it would be in the best interest of Asians in Asia to start banding together as well. Perhaps Asian Americans could show them the way.

sb1

[powerislife]

The supermarket example is not bad. Would people shop in small stores, one which only had japanese food, another indian, another korean? Or does one increase the power of the owners, like all fingers coming together to make a fist?

Make each section distinct and unique, but under the same roof. That is what Asia is.