Wet Markets vs Supermarket

Kapow!  Thuuuuwwaaapppp! 

In the battle between wet markets and supermarkets, it is no secret that wet markets rule.  When Sheng Siong announced that it was acquisitioning a bunch of wet markets and revamping them into Sheng Siong-lites, there was much furore.  Which, of course, in typical Singaporean style, then died to a whimper and was swiftly forgotten.

I stand by my view that wet markets should be allowed to thrive under the ole free market concept.

For example, yesterday, I bought a bunch of tai bak choy at an NTUC for $1.50, weighing in at 250g. There were only 3 bags available so I chose the least mangy looking one as I was desperate to make some soup and was unsure if I could make it to the wet market in time.

Today, I went moseying around the wet market during lunch.  At one store, I asked for tai bak choy but the stall vendor tried to convince me that Shanghai bak choy would suffice.  Eh, dude, no it wouldn't.  And he tried to give me a line that there was no tai bak choy available as it was raining so much.  Rrrrrright ...

Smiling sweetly, I thanked him and walked a couple of stalls down,  where I saw some beautiful tai bak choy miraculously just lying there, having missed the memo that they should not exist because of the rains.  For shame.

The previous stall vendor must have taken one look at me and thought, "What would this person know about vegetables?  Probably shopping for the mum and totally clueless."

Yeah.  I have only been cooking and food shopping since I was a kid.   

There was a huge range of vegetables for me to choose from at the second stall and what's more, the stall vendor was polite and did not treat me like the village idiot.

Now, I would not have been able to do that at a Sheng Siong or NTUC.  Check for better quality products at a cheaper price in one location.  Worse, there is less variety to choose from at the supermarkets.  And the quality ... it's beyond tragic.

Let's take the tai bak choy I purchased at the two locations.  Exhibit A - NTUC Pasar Tai Bak Choy.  Exhibit B - Wet Market Tai Bak Choy.

NTUC's 250g for $1.50 bought last night, on the left.  Wet market's approximately 300g for $1.50 bought this afternoon, on the right. (Oh yeah, I stored the NTUC's tai bok choy carefully in the crisper, in case you gonna start nitpicking)

Let the pictures tell the story.  

NTUC's was full of dirt, old and dying.  I had to discard about 25% of it.  The feel was leathery and the leaves were brittle.  It was quite horrible to handle and I swear some bunch even felt a little slimey as if they were starting to turn.  If you want to get really picky, that means only 187.5g was useable.

The wet market's had hardly any soil as the vendor obviously takes care and pride of his stock and presented it to his best ability.  The bak choy was fresher and younger.  Wonderfully crisp and the leaves felt alive and strong.  Handling it was such a pleasure.

It is obvious the supermarkets cannot compete with wet markets on quality.

And before supermarkets can blather on about how they fight on price because of economies of scale, note that I actually got more at the wet market at the same price.

OK, so they might retort that it works differently with vegetables.  Alrighty then, let's take meat.

I purchase 250g of spare ribs at the wet market for $5.  It was so fresh that it did not even have the porky smell I detest.  I know, I know, what did I expect pork to smell like, right?  But you know what I mean if you are not a pork fan like me.

At Shop N Save and NTUC, the spare ribs there were limited in choice and they were luridly dark red, with lots of stagnating blood running to a burgundy in some cases.  Now how long has that pig been dead, eh?  Worse, because the spare ribs had been pre-chopped, unlike the wet market's, the upper edges of each chunk not marinating in old blood was visibly drying.  

If I had purchased the spare ribs at NTUC, I would have had to buy at least two packs which would have been about 300g, instead of being able to buy exactly 250g.  And even if I managed to find exactly 250g, it would have been about $5.80.  Now how is that cheaper and fresher?

Fish?  I did not even bother to do a price comparison.  All I had to do was take a look at the fishes at both supermarkets, got a gander of the red, blurry eyes and I moved along.  There is no way on hell I would even go near those fishes!

I would still go the supermarkets to buy milk, cheese and staples that you cannot get at the wet market but for fresh produce, seafood and meat, my trusty little wet market is gold.  Of course we have not even discussed Cold Storage or Carrefour, which has much better quality products (not true of all outlets as I have seen true horrors at some small Cold Storages).  But the prices at the latter two are higher too.

I do wish that wet markets are more like those in Europe where we could literally get everything - even home gardens!  But they are a wonderful resource and I really think they should be preserved and not go the way of small cottage industries and business worldwide.  However, even in the countries where big corporations rule, they are realising that protecting local, small food businesses is important.  

Save the wet markets please.  For our health.  In all ways.