Segregation is an issue in American supermarkets, The New York Times tells me.
It’s not about people; it’s about SKUs. American supermarkets have long had an aisle of ethnic foods, where shoppers go to buy Thai fish sauce, sriracha, and other items that are only beginning to be integrated into mainstream cooking in this country.
Should they be integrated onto the shelves of mainstream food items as well?
Kroger conducted a survey of a Houston store to see whether consumers preferred to have ethnic products in a separate section. They overwhelmingly preferred integration—although Kroger stores still for the most part have ethnic aisles.
Some producers of ethnic items favor integration, knowing that it will boost sales. Others resist the idea: they don’t want their products diluted by the mainstream.
All of this has to do with non-produce items, of course: ethnic produce has either been integrated into the standard supermarket fare (mangos, papaya) or left out completely. If you want Chinese long beans or opo squash, you won’t find them there (except, perhaps, in individual stores that serve a heavily ethnic clientele).
I wondered how it worked the other way around, so I dropped in on a couple of ethnic supermarkets in my vicinity (a few miles west of the Blue Book headquarters in Carol Stream, IL) to see whether ethnic produce favorites were cordoned off from their Anglo relatives.
The short answer: no.
My first stop was the Patel Brothers market in Bloomingdale, which serves a primarily Indian clientele. Its none too impressively stocked shelves featured standard American iceberg lettuce flanked by methi (fenugreek leaves) and muli (white radish), and long eggplant and karela (bitter gourd) next to cabbage.
I was tempted by the long eggplant—which looked very succulent, evoking memories of many a Chinese spicy eggplant stir-fry—but not enough to cope with the line.
On to Carneceria Jimenez in West Chicago, a Hispanic enclave in the far western suburbs of Chicagoland. The store’s avocado-colored façade evokes Latin America (though it looks highly anomalous in the grey of a Chicago winter). Here I found Mexican zucchini nestled alongside the familiar American variety without the necessity of a wall to prevent crossovers. Asian pears and kiwis shared the same section with green okra and sweet lime.
Here I permitted myself to select a few items: some poblano chiles, in expectation of chiles rellenos in my future; corn on the cob, at 4 for $1; and some enormous peaches at 49 cents a pound (it is the height of the season).
Finally, I bought a package of fava beans, intrigued by this, the only Old World bean, forbidden to his followers by the Greek philosopher Pythagoras, probably because it can cause an adverse reaction called favism. I also picked up some Oaxaca cheese for a snack when I got home. I expect to enjoy all of them.
As American society continues to diversify, we can look forward to seeing more and more of these exotic items make their way onto mainstream shelves.
Now all we need is someone to tell us how to cook them.
