Why is Indian food always expensive?

[Anonymous]

Most grocery stores carry naans, which are really good but freshly cooked naan is just better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because it requires a ton of ingredients and prep. It requires sooooooo much more work than say Italian food. I bet you have no problems paying $25 for a pasta dish, yet you sneer at $22 for an Indian dish that requires 2x the work.

NP, but while reading this thread I was thinking about what a ripoff vegetarian pasta dishes are. The markup is insane. I can understand that Indian restaurants are spending more money on spices alone than other restaurants.

[Anonymous]

Why shouldn't Indian food be expensive?

[Anonymous]

There are cheap Indian restaurants. Find one with a lunch buffet where most of the customers are south Asian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because it requires a ton of ingredients and prep. It requires sooooooo much more work than say Italian food. I bet you have no problems paying $25 for a pasta dish, yet you sneer at $22 for an Indian dish that requires 2x the work.

Are you an Indian restaurant owner LOL? Most places keep all the master mixes frozen in bulk and throw dishes together quickly.

No, I just recognize the ethnocentric bias in cuisine costs. People expect stuff like Indian, Thai, Chinese, etc. to be cheap and delicious while they have no problems paying 2x more for something like Italian food or French food that is half the labor and 1/4 the number of ingredients. Ha, as if Italian places don’t have premade sauces often times they simply heat up and throw in the boxed pasta they boiled.

The expectations for ethnic cuisines are twice as high compared to such mediocre Italian food, yet consumers demand cheap costs. It’s ridiculous.

I absolutely agree and am happy to pay more at Indian restaurants because I realize how labor intensive the food is. The irony is that my Indian in-laws are the ones complaining about the expense and that it’s not worth it to pay so much.

[Anonymous]

Try Vegz in adams morgan for excellent indian food - their meals are like $15 and big portions. One of my absolute favorites

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why shouldn't Indian food be expensive?

I’ll bite. With the exception of a very few innovative chefs in places like New York. You don’t have fine dining or high end Indian food. Same is true for Ethiopian food my favorite and other ethnic cuisines. The few top level chefs doing stewy ethnic cuisines are usually also trained in French techniques, doing some fusion, and upgrading the usual quality of the proteins.

Until Indian restaurants upgrade beyond what every other Indian restaurant serves at lower price points ,it’s just overpriced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because it requires a ton of ingredients and prep. It requires sooooooo much more work than say Italian food. I bet you have no problems paying $25 for a pasta dish, yet you sneer at $22 for an Indian dish that requires 2x the work.

NP, but while reading this thread I was thinking about what a ripoff vegetarian pasta dishes are. The markup is insane. I can understand that Indian restaurants are spending more money on spices alone than other restaurants.

You are forgetting about technique ,skill and quality of ingredients . Indian food works really well in take out and buffets because it can sit. Italian and French food , to be good require precise technique and timing. Because the dishes don’t have 20 ingredients slow cooked for hours, each needs to be prepared very well. Italian and French food can be really awful if not prepared well and get ruined if not served at the right time. There are more Italian and French restaurants than Indian restaurants but far more really good Italian and French restaurants than Indian restaurants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because it requires a ton of ingredients and prep. It requires sooooooo much more work than say Italian food. I bet you have no problems paying $25 for a pasta dish, yet you sneer at $22 for an Indian dish that requires 2x the work.

Are you an Indian restaurant owner LOL? Most places keep all the master mixes frozen in bulk and throw dishes together quickly.

No, I just recognize the ethnocentric bias in cuisine costs. People expect stuff like Indian, Thai, Chinese, etc. to be cheap and delicious while they have no problems paying 2x more for something like Italian food or French food that is half the labor and 1/4 the number of ingredients. Ha, as if Italian places don’t have premade sauces often times they simply heat up and throw in the boxed pasta they boiled.

The expectations for ethnic cuisines are twice as high compared to such mediocre Italian food, yet consumers demand cheap costs. It’s ridiculous.

False equivalent here. Nobody wants to pay $$ for some cheese ravioli or alfredo noodles either. Handmade ragu with beef sausage, etc. should be more expensive. Veg indian food doesn't have expensive ingredients and things that are hand rolled out or assembled. It just doesn't. As others have already pointed out, the labor is grinding spices, chopping veg, and we should be able to do that in bulk. I know I can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because it requires a ton of ingredients and prep. It requires sooooooo much more work than say Italian food. I bet you have no problems paying $25 for a pasta dish, yet you sneer at $22 for an Indian dish that requires 2x the work.

NP, but while reading this thread I was thinking about what a ripoff vegetarian pasta dishes are. The markup is insane. I can understand that Indian restaurants are spending more money on spices alone than other restaurants.

You are forgetting about technique ,skill and quality of ingredients . Indian food works really well in take out and buffets because it can sit. Italian and French food , to be good require precise technique and timing. Because the dishes don’t have 20 ingredients slow cooked for hours, each needs to be prepared very well. Italian and French food can be really awful if not prepared well and get ruined if not served at the right time. There are more Italian and French restaurants than Indian restaurants but far more really good Italian and French restaurants than Indian restaurants.

This is such a eurocentric, offensive, ignorant take on culinary techniques.

[Anonymous]

Good Indian food is actually a lot of work. Malai Kofta anyone? I used to make those at home but stopped bc they really are such a pain.

All the different gravies, veg, cheese, stuffed and fried items, plus the accompanying rice and naan. And then of course the various stuffed Naans: Peshawari, Keema, Kashmiri just to name a few.

And the chaats...Aloo Tikka, Pani Puri, Dani Puri, Behi Puri...delish.

[Anonymous]

At Indigo some breads go up to $8 a piece and meals start at $19. https://www.indigowdc.com/
At Rasika which is more upscale entrees start at $20 and naan starts at $5. https://www.rasikarestaurant.com/penn-quarter-menu

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why shouldn't Indian food be expensive?

Again, vegetarian based ingredients. It’s understandable why a seafood restaurant would be expensive due to the cost and short shelf life of fish. My go to Indian order is usually a samosa (pastry, peas, potato and spices) garlic naan (flour, oil and spices) and a palak paneer (spinach, paneer, oil/butter and spices). It has nothing to do with the food being Indian. I usually end up spending close to what I would spend on sushi at an Indian restaurant and to me based on ingredients it never made sense and portions are usually on the smaller side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At Indigo some breads go up to $8 a piece and meals start at $19. https://www.indigowdc.com/
At Rasika which is more upscale entrees start at $20 and naan starts at $5. https://www.rasikarestaurant.com/penn-quarter-menu

Is this supposed to be a joke? Keema parantha is bread stuffed with lamb. It's basically it's own meal. That's $8 at indigo. Plain roti is $2.

Rasika has valet parking. It's extremely upscale as you say. Even then, their naan is also "an order" of naan, which is likely multiple pieces.

I'm just struggling to see how people are fretting over this being expensive. If you're paying $15 to valet your car at a restaurant but $2.50 per naan is too expensive because it's made by a brown person, it's looking pretty racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why shouldn't Indian food be expensive?

Again, vegetarian based ingredients. It’s understandable why a seafood restaurant would be expensive due to the cost and short shelf life of fish. My go to Indian order is usually a samosa (pastry, peas, potato and spices) garlic naan (flour, oil and spices) and a palak paneer (spinach, paneer, oil/butter and spices). It has nothing to do with the food being Indian. I usually end up spending close to what I would spend on sushi at an Indian restaurant and to me based on ingredients it never made sense and portions are usually on the smaller side.

I've never heard this. That's one of the reasons I love indian food, generous portions with leftovers for days!