San Francisco Chinatown. On the surface = dirty, crowded, no sense of personal space. There is an organized madness underneath what we see on a daily basis. There are people who hold their culture close to their hearts. What may seem like a mess to American's, is their lifestyle.
One of the reasons (besides being one of the most densely populated areas in the entire US ) for the constant crowds in Chinatown is they shop for the food on a daily basis. Unlike the middle America culture of Super WalMart's and the like, they shop for food now - not next week. This affords the food vendors with a rare opportunity to get the produce, poultry and meat for cheap. They can buy in bulk and unload almost all the food in 1 day. They also can buy the fruits, veggies, etc. when they are ripe and when stores like Safeway do not want ripe fruit (because if they do not sell that day, it is wasted). This allows them to purchase and the resell the food at a rate that will baffle the mind.
I got 2 whole LIVE crabs in Chinatown a week back for $13! They were amazing. Also bought pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables for a fraction of the cost I spend at Safeway. The fruit and veggies are also bigger, many times organic and a huge selection.
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