Sunday, November 23, 2008

I {heart} my asian market...

I really, really do. And yes, it is MY asian market...never mind the hundreds of asian and hispanic customers that frequent there...it's all about me. Me. The middle aged white lady who comes searching for her jar of bulgogi sauce and melon flavored ice cream bars.

In spite of this great love between me and my asian market, I have one concern...what is that smell in there? For real, why does the market smell like that?

My daughter says, "That's just the way asian stuff smells." While I am inclined to believe she is smarter than me--after all, she goes to college--I don't think she has a decent case for that argument. I don't smell that smell when I go to my favorite asian restaurant. This is a smell specifically limited to the market. So, theory shot down right there.

It's really more of a curiousity than a concern, now that I think about it. I mean, the smell hasn't kept me away so far. I will not stop going to the market based on that smell. I will stop going there if they stop selling my melon ice cream bars, however. You'd agree with me if you tried them. They are like heaven on a stick.

3 comments:

Andrew "Drew Portnoy" Bulkeley said...

No, all Asian markets smell like that. I think when you mix fish in various forms with ginger in various forms and throw in a little incense, you get that smell.

This must be true because as soon as you said "Asian Market" I had that smell in my head. And I've never been to Simple Things Woks 'n Wontons.

Anne/kq said...

It's all the fish crates out back, combined with the funky earthy dried mushrooms and strange herbs. Some are worse than others; we have a few Korean markets that hardly smell at all except RIGHT by the mushrooms while there was one Vietnamese market we lived by in Richardson that you could smell from a block away.

I heart all small ethnic grocers-- and give them my business as much as possible, at least for produce and such.

talitha said...

FYI: The ginger is indeed a factor. Thanks, Andrew.

I was making some molasses/ginger muffins over Thanksgiving and got a whiff of the ginger and it absolutely is a component to the full asian market smell.