Open Thread

Biff, you are right in terms of apples to apples comparisons. Take for example the C-Towns on 9th Street in the Slope and the one on 24th St…the latter has lower prices on the exact same items. I have no doubt that the reason 9th St charges more is because of the neighborhood.

Biff, if you look at the smaller supermarkets in the hood, the C-Towns, Met Supermakets, Bravo’s, etc, they are often more expensive than the same Met down on Atlantic Ave in the Heights. I don’t comparison shop that much, who has time, but one of the groups the non profit I work with deals with does the comparisons, and the hood does not come out well, in the long run. Rob may be right about a poverty tax. Forget the prices in bodegas, they are sky high, and you’d be surprised how many people do much of their everyday shopping in bodegas, if they don’t live within easy walking distance of a larger supermarket.

Dave, that fish recipe looks great. I’ve never poached halibut before, though, so I’d be worried about overcooking it. About long does it take?

If the poor cannot buy bread at the bodega, let them buy cake.

Snappy – some do. My favorite poor family, my wife’s, make the w/e trip to the meat market and Brooklyn chinatown, buy their produce and then cook up and storm. It usually lasts until Thursday.