FoodBanter.com - View Single Post - Chef claims "ethnic" food aisles in supermarkets are "racist."

cshenk

wrote:

> On Tuesday, October 8, 2019 at 12:45:36 PM UTC-5, cshenk wrote:
> >
> > dsi1 wrote:
> >
> > > I understand how it works, I'd just like to see photos of the
> > > kind of people that buys La Choy. I just can't imagine what that
> > > would be like.
> >
> > Hehehe, it's not actually that horrible, at least in the 60s/70s
> > when I was a kid. Mom would get it sometimes. Keep in mind Mom
> > was a lovely person but never a cook. I didn't get it on my own
> > until a brief time when living in Japan where meat prices can be
> > astronomical. I found one in the cabinets as we were clearing out
> > to leave. I see I added Bok Choy, Sesame Oil, a little patis (real
> > one, made from fish), and shemenji. It's in my recipe database
> > from then.
> >
> My mother was a great cook but she didn't venture out into any
> 'foreign' cuisine. I'd seen those cans of La Choy on the grocery
> shelves and of course the picture on the can made it look great so I
> got curious and bought a can. Had no idea what to expect but in my
> 21 or 22 year old mind it was good and made me really want to try the
> Chinese restaurants that soon started to spring up across the city.
> I soon found out there were a lot more dishes to savor other than
> 'beef pepper steak.'

It's really adapted for western tastes as well all know, but in the
60/70's it might be all you could find outside of a really big city
with asian food places. It definately doesn't rack up to modern much
better items in the freezer section. I'm not sure if my store sells it
as I haven't looked.

I'm far more apt to mix up my own stuff here but I'm pretty sure as a
college student on a slim paycheck, I got it a few times.

There was another brand, not La Choy, which may be the only one now.
Not sure of the name. Chun King maybe?