Friday October 3rd was the last gathering of Montreal's Street Food Trucks at the Olympic Stadium.
The trucks who did better were:
-Pas d'cochon dans mon salon (de La Salle à manger)
-Pied de cochon (de Pied de cochon)
-Gaufrabec (de Gaufrabec - Guys! Their store is at St-Denis and they sell their batter at Adonis =D!!!)
The trucks who did not so well were:
-The asian trucks.
It is not that asian food lacks taste. Au contraire, Asian food is very powerful in taste: terriyaki sauce, soya sauce, fish sauce, red pepper paste, sriracha, rice vinegar, you name it - Asia is the powerhouse when it comes to taste.
What it lacks is an élite-ness to the way it is presented. People - myself included - underrate Asian food just because it is cheap, common and easily accessible. Society has created a hierarchy where a cheap palate cannot be considered élite. But hamburgers and hot dogs have escalated the hierarchy palate, why can't Asian food do the same?
The problem lies within its own community. Asian people are known to be cheap (but everyone is cheap deep down; people just don't admit to it). Asians don't want to pay more for what their produce truly costs so the competition settles in between the businesses; each business battles head to head with the other to sell their products. Each works harder and harder while diminishing their profit. And indirectly, the Asian community agrees to this which is absurd because on the other hand,
The Occidental restaurants are RAKING IN PROFIT at least three. Three! THREE! times more than what a product sold at an Asian restaurant, supermarket, bakery would sell (Ex: the same whole suckling pig at La Salle à manger: 500$, at Thai Son: 165$). But the great thing about Occidentals (mainly French) is that they are willing to pay for it. If a great food demands a higher price, well so be it! Each restaurant has their own uniqueness and their own specialty. Not only is the food good but the ambiance as well: relaxed, enjoyable.
On the other hand, in an Asian store, everything always seems rushed. People expect their orders quickly and want to leave, having other businesses to tend to. What the Asian community needs to learn is to be able to relax, to take the time to enjoy food as a pleasure of life. If we, as a community, enjoy our own food, then it will certainly earn higher praises, giving our Asian food its well deserved rich and élite status among all the other foods. Its price will raise and hopefully, it will allow the Asian community to build into stronger businesses rather than having to compete and break each other down.
