OPINION: You pay more for a pre-made wrap, so why do we expect Asian food to be cheap?

Listen to this story being read by Melody Teh, here.

Ever complained about paying $8 for a banh mi? What about $15 for pho or $20 for ramen? Or $30 for a butter chicken curry? 

There seems to be this idea that good, authentic Asian food should be cheap. But have you blinked at shelling out $20 for a burger, $30 for a plate of pasta or even $60 for a steak? 

Probably not right? I wish people would understand and appreciate the labour and love that goes into creating Asian dishes. These dishes are more complex to make than most people realise and take hours to bring the richness of the flavours to life.

Let's take, for example, the glorious, crowd favourite - banh mi. Depending on your filling of choice, the Vietnamese roll can often range from $6 to $10. The number of times I've heard people complain about these prices, often comparing it to how it used to be only a couple of dollars or even how much it costs in Vietnam itself! (Of course you can get it for less than $2 in Vietnam, but we're not in Vietnam!) Then there's the other side, where I hear people bragging about getting their hands on a $5 banh mi.

Natalie, the general and duty manager of her parents' bakery in Melbourne, says people often make snarky comments about the price of an $8 banh mi - which is made fresh for you every single time - but seem to have no issue paying $15+ for a pre-made wrap.

We need to respect the food. And we also need to respect the people behind the food, who work tirelessly and passionately to put it in front of us. 

Huu Le owns Phuoc Hung Bakery in Richmond, an inner city suburb in Melbourne. He says for people who emigrated to Australia like his parents, there is "an expectation that food is priced cheaply so that everyone can access this food."

"So many people had sacrificed their dignity to work at any job to make means meet and to raise a family in a new country," he adds. 

For many first-generation immigrants, they felt they had no choice but to work for less than the minimum wage as a means of survival and to provide for their families. Understandably, food prices had to be affordable and accessible for their own community back then. 

Le has thought about increasing his prices because of fixed and variable expenses, not to mention inflation and supply issues this year. Yet he's still reluctant for fear of backlash and has only raised the cost of food by 50 cents to match his competitors. 

Image: Supplied.

But Le has still dealt with customers who are in disbelief that he raise his prices at all. On the other hand, he also has regulars who urge him to do so as they understand the importance of having to cover costs.

(This is your reminder that the next time you pop into your favourite Asian bakery or restaurant: Give them a compliment. Tell them how much you love their food. Share with them how much you appreciate them. Encourage them to price their food accordingly.) 

Natalie also regularly hears from customers: "Your prices have gone up!" or "How much does a simple noodle salad really have to go up by?"

But this is what people don't see that goes into bringing these dishes you know and love to life.  

Natalie, her parents and her siblings, get up well before the sun rises to travel to wholesalers to get the best deals on the freshest ingredients. Then they work the whole day in the shop, serving customers freshly made banh mi. After the shop closes for the day, they all prepare the food for the following day. She urges us to consider who pays for the labour, the countless hours that goes into the preparation that simply can’t be done during their opening hours. As a family run business, no one is really paid a wage as the money is always reinvested back into the business.

When we undervalue the Asian food we love so much, we disregard the humanness and livelihood of the people making it for us. 

Le has also dealt with people who believe banh mi should be cheap as it is merely "street food". But let's consider this for a moment. Banh mi is much more complex than it looks: we're talking about in-house baked bread, fresh and pickled vegetables, homemade pate and crispy roast pork or a selection of other fillings so rich in flavour and texture. 

For Le, whose bread-making is unique to others, it takes five and a half hours to make approximately 180 bread rolls from scratch. Then it takes three hours to perfect the pate, additional time to pickle the carrots and properly clean the vegetables, and you can't forget the time dedicated to marinating and cooking the meats. 

Though it takes a few short minutes to assemble the banh mi, Natalie says "there's been countless hours of unpaid hours behind the scenes to prepare it for you so that when you come into our restaurant, you are served efficiently and quickly."

By expecting Asian food to be cheaper than what it is, you're telling the workers that their labour isn't worth much.

When you consider that most of us would happily go to an Asian fusion or a high-end Asian restaurant that often isn't Asian-owned and not think twice about what they're charging you, there is undoubtedly a difference between how some people view these establishments compared to the smaller, often family-run, Asian businesses.

There may be some Asian restaurants that don't invest a lot of their money and efforts into the decor or customer service but that doesn't mean that the food isn't good or the people working there don't deserve your respect. If anything, it's a reminder that it's about the food. It's about bringing people together through food. In Asian culture, high-quality tasting food is considered good service. For many people, it's about experiencing food and flavours that you couldn't or wouldn't make for yourself at home.

We need to let go of the idea that Asian food has to be cheap to be good or authentic. If you return to a place that you love, I doubt it's purely based on how cheap it is, it must be because of the food and flavours.  

So next time you're grabbing a quick banh mi for lunch, ordering takeaway from your local Indian restaurant or tucking into a bowl of ramen for dinner, just remember the people who pour their soul into the food and the unseen hours of work that goes into the food you're eating. 

If you love the food, let's change the conversation around 'cheap' Asian food.

Feature Image: Supplied.

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