Saturday 25 May 2013

How to tell which stalls sell the cheapest food (London)



In the West, people often say that the way to tell which Chinese restaurant serves authentic Chinese food is to look in and see who are dining in them.  If a particular restaurant is full of Chinese people, then the food will definitely be authentic.

A mainland Chinese chap had moved into the flat above me, so I took him on a little tour of Nag’s Head, an area beyond our district, because there are more stalls and shops there, and their fruit, vegetables and meat are cheaper.  

I said to him, “There isn’t one single stall that’s cheaper than the others for all items.  Some of them are cheaper for one vegetable, and some are cheaper for another.  What you can do is go up to the stalls, and have a look at the price tags put up against the respective items, so that you can get an idea of which stall is cheaper for which item, and make a comparison.”  

He said, “No, there’s no need to look at the price tags.  Just look at the people in the queues at the respective stalls.”  

I asked, “What do you mean?”  

He said, “Well, look at that stall: the queue is full of black people and old age pensioners, so their things must be cheaper!” 

(London 1987)

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