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How to Find Asian Markets & Ingredients

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Asian_market

You're ready to cook Vietnamese food but where are the ingredients?
They're not particularly hard to find, especially because Asian cooking
is increasingly popular and there are Asian communities all over. Once
you've found the foodstuffs, the equipment is usually in the market too
or at a nearby shop.

If you're new to Asian markets, you'll have to stretch a bit. While
many of the ingredients may be locally available, Viet cuisine has yet
to become mainstreamed. Certain staples, such as high-quality fish
sauce and rice noodles, will require a trip to a Chinese or Southeast
Asian market.

Cooking is a fun social and human activity. Part of the experience
is shopping for ingredients, which may entail going to unfamiliar
neighborhoods and bridging language and cultural barriers. If you
smile, are polite, and show interest, people will gladly help. During
the last thirty plus years, Vietnamese people have splendidly preserved
and developed their culinary traditions far away from their ancestral
home. There's no reason why you can't do it too. The payoff is
delicious.

Rather than present a list of stores that's bound to change and be
incomplete, this posting contains tips to help you find ingredients and
equipment. If you have tips to add, use the comment section!

Strategies for Your Search

Find a Viet enclave nearby and check the local yellow-pages for "Grocers and Markets." According
to the 2000 U.S. Census, Vietnamese Americans are the fourth largest
Asian ethnic group in America. We are surprisingly in many places.
While the biggest Vietnamese-American communities are in California,
Texas, and Washington, D.C., there are folks in Atlanta, Boston, New
Orleans, New York City, and Seattle too. Even Wichita, Kansas, and
Grand Rapids, Michigan, have burgeoning populations. Do an internet
search for "Vietnamese community in X city or X state" and see what you
find.

Asian_market_produce
Don't limit yourself to Vietnamese markets. Chinese,
Thai, Cambodian, Laotian, and Filipino markets also sell ingredients
for Vietnamese cooking. The herbs may not be available, but other
essentials like fish sauce will be on the shelves. Use cultural and
historic intersections as starting points. Where there's a substantial
community of Asian people, there are markets that cater to their
cooking needs. Chinese-owned Ranch 99 Market
is a great pan-Asian chain of grocery stores with locations in
California, Washington, Arizona, Hawaii, and Nevada. Mainly on the East
Coast and with a super location in Niles, Illinois, H Mart
(select English in upper right-hand corner) is a Korean-owned chain of
great Asian markets.  Other notable chains include Hong Kong
Supermarket and Shun Fat Supermarket.

Pretty reliable online listings of Asian markets in America can be found at:

Explore Chinatowns. Chinese influences in
Vietnamese cooking run deep, and many of the ingredients are the same.
A fair number of the grocery stores are owned and run by
Chinese-Vietnamese Americans. Chinatown houseware and restaurant supply
shops stock steamers, dishware, and other nifty cooking tools.

Ask Viet people who are "in the know." For example:

  • The folks who run your favorite Vietnamese restaurant. Where do they buy their ingredients?
  • Your Vietnamese manicurist. Where does she or he shop for food and specialty equipment?
  • Members of a local university's Vietnamese Student Association. An
    international organization with numerous chapters in the U.S., VSA
    sponsors cultural events and food festivals. These students know their
    community's culinary resources. Check the university website.

Go beyond Asian markets. Peruse non-Asian markets
(such as Latino, Middle Eastern, and Caribbean), health food stores,
and the international or Asian food section of mainstream supermarkets.
You'll be amazed to discover what's stocked on the shelves. Good
Mexican butcher counters and carniceria meat markets are treasures.

Asian_farmers_market
Shop farmers' markets. In
a number of places in the country, Hmong and Vietnamese farmers are
trucking loads of fresh Asian produce to weekly markets. Non-Southeast
Asian farmers are increasingly growing Asian vegetables and herbs.
Check websites such as localharvest.org for local markets and farms.

Use culinary message boards. The virtual community of cooks that can be found at sites like eGullet and chowhound is full of insights.

Only as a last resort should you purchase Asian ingredients and equipment online or through mail order.
Because inventories and service fluctuate, check around to see what's
currently available and reliable. Among the online and mail order
sources worth exploring are:

    The Oriental Pantry (Acton, MA)
    (978) 264-4576, orientalpantry.com
    Offers a broad selection of Asian ingredients. Fish sauce is in "Misc. Other Foods."

    Pacific Rim Gourmet (Escondido, CA)
    [email protected], pacificrimgourmet.com
    Inventory is organized according to cuisines.

    The Wok Shop (San Francisco, CA)
    (415) 989-3797, wokshop.com
    No
    food sold here, but the selection of cooking equipment is excellent,
    including wood moon cakes, which are listed in "Hard to Find Items."

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Comments

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    Dear Andrea,
    I live in Mexico, and assuming that you know about our great variety of chilies, would like to know if there is any type or name of chili which could serve as a substitute for the large red chilies (not spicy and just used for flavor) that are used in vietnamese and indonesian cuisines. Thank you
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    After reading your entry about shrimp farming I wondered how you select the shrimp you do buy?

  3. Andrea Nguyen says

    Olivia, it's hard with shrimp because like the small white ones for various Viet and Asian applications. What I find in terms of wild-caught shrimp for sale are big. Those are great for grilling or simmering in caramel sauce. Whenever I'm in the market for big shrimp, I look for wild-caught, which is available at health food store, specialty markets, and even Costco! But the small ones are for sizzling crepes, and I have to get conventional farmed for those. Overall, what I do is eat less shrimp

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    I have been to asia and found it very easy to have the ingredients nearby and enjoyed cooking experimentally especially the spices available for my recipe hunt for lamb meat and honestly I gained weight doing thid because I can't stop going to the market and cooking over and over again.

  27. Jenell Blasl says

    Thanks for that information, Andrea. Shopping is my favorite hobby along with cooking. But I've gotten used to going to mainstream supermarkets to buy the ingredients. The next time I want to cook an Asian dish, I'll visit specialty shops so that my dishes will be more exotic.

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