Rising Prices and Thai Food USAGM
Metadata
- Rising Prices and Thai Food USAGM
- March 28, 2022
- Content Type Package
- Language English
- Transcript/Script English USAGM SHARE ((PLAYBOOK SLUG: TV Rising Prices and Thai Food - Pattarateranon HEADLINE: Rising inflation in the US is increasingly hitting ethnic-food vendors TEASER: Consumers and operators of ethnic-food businesses in Los Angeles are feeling the pinch of declining purchasing power as a result of decades-high inflation. PUBLISHED AT: 03/28/22 at 1:50 p.m. BYLINE: Supakit Pattarateranon and Nopparat Chaichalearmmongkol CONTRIBUTOR: Pinitkarn Tulachom DATELINE: Los Angeles, California VIDEOGRAPHER: Supakit Pattarateranon VIDEO EDITOR: SCRIPT EDITORS: KE, MAS VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO X TRT: 2:45 VID APPROVED BY: KE TYPE: TVPKG EDITOR NOTES: )) ((INTRO)) [[Rising costs are impacting day to day living for many Americans. In the Thai community in Los Angeles, many are having to make some hard choices. Nopparat Chaichalearmmongkol has a story reported by Supakit Pattarateranon.]] ((NARRATOR)) When Thai food lovers in the Los Angeles areas think of a meal for less than $10, the Wat Thai of Los Angeles Food Court or Thai Temple Food Court comes to mind. But inflation and supply chain issues have sent food prices skyrocketing and that’s putting vendors in a tough spot. (Nunthuchgorn Jaruthunmakorn, “The Best Som Tum” Owner (female)) IMM “My goodness, (the prices) rose a lot. (For Som Tum), I don’t know what I can add to. Adding too little may upset the customers. Everything, from tomatoes to Thai chilis, dried shrimp, peanuts, garlic, is more expensive. The prices of MSG and papaya are doubling or more.” ((NARRATOR)) Family member and co-owner Keerati Jaruthunmakorn, who makes sure the business stays afloat says for now prices are staying the same, mainly to keep them coming back. (Keerati Jaruthunmakorn, “The Best Som Tum” Co-owner (female)) WAAN “Right now, we don’t raise the prices of any items we offer at our shop. Every dish’s price has been the same for the last 5-7 years, because we want to retain as many customers with us as possible, although some shops have already started raising their prices as they could not cope with the rising costs.” ((NARRATOR)) Fish sauce imported mainly from Thailand and Vietnam is arguably the heart and soul of authentic Southeast Asian cooking, indispensable for dishes with worldwide popularity like Som tum or papaya salad. ((Nunthuchgorn Jaruthunmakorn, “The Best Som Tum” Owner (female))) IMM “No need to talk about fish sauce. It’s very expensive now and in shortage. It went up from two dollars to five dollars now.” ((NARRATOR)) Consumers are accustomed to paying more at restaurants, including ethnic-food eateries that often are more affordable than Western fine dining. But they do notice big price changes. (Nutsicha Kaminski, Customers (female))) IMM “Most of them would gradually raise prices, like a $2 increase each time. No one will complain if the portion and the quality of the food is the same. But, some shops just reduced the portion while keeping the prices unchanged. In that case, we feel like it’s not right.” ((NARRATOR)) As the war in Ukraine rages on, fueling market jitters that could drive costs even higher. And restaurant owners are worried higher prices could leave a bad taste in the mouth of their patrons. ((For Supakit Pattarateranon, Nopparat Chaichalearmmongkol for VOA News.))
- Transcript/Script USAGM SHARE ((PLAYBOOK SLUG: TV Rising Prices and Thai Food - Pattarateranon HEADLINE: Rising inflation in the US is increasingly hitting ethnic-food vendors TEASER: Consumers and operators of ethnic-food businesses in Los Angeles are feeling the pinch of declining purchasing power as a result of decades-high inflation. PUBLISHED AT: 03/28/22 at 1:50 p.m. BYLINE: Supakit Pattarateranon and Nopparat Chaichalearmmongkol CONTRIBUTOR: Pinitkarn Tulachom DATELINE: Los Angeles, California VIDEOGRAPHER: Supakit Pattarateranon VIDEO EDITOR: SCRIPT EDITORS: KE, MAS VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO X TRT: 2:45 VID APPROVED BY: KE TYPE: TVPKG EDITOR NOTES: )) ((INTRO)) [[Rising costs are impacting day to day living for many Americans. In the Thai community in Los Angeles, many are having to make some hard choices. Nopparat Chaichalearmmongkol has a story reported by Supakit Pattarateranon.]] ((NARRATOR)) When Thai food lovers in the Los Angeles areas think of a meal for less than $10, the Wat Thai of Los Angeles Food Court or Thai Temple Food Court comes to mind. But inflation and supply chain issues have sent food prices skyrocketing and that’s putting vendors in a tough spot. (Nunthuchgorn Jaruthunmakorn, “The Best Som Tum” Owner (female)) IMM “My goodness, (the prices) rose a lot. (For Som Tum), I don’t know what I can add to. Adding too little may upset the customers. Everything, from tomatoes to Thai chilis, dried shrimp, peanuts, garlic, is more expensive. The prices of MSG and papaya are doubling or more.” ((NARRATOR)) Family member and co-owner Keerati Jaruthunmakorn, who makes sure the business stays afloat says for now prices are staying the same, mainly to keep them coming back. (Keerati Jaruthunmakorn, “The Best Som Tum” Co-owner (female)) WAAN “Right now, we don’t raise the prices of any items we offer at our shop. Every dish’s price has been the same for the last 5-7 years, because we want to retain as many customers with us as possible, although some shops have already started raising their prices as they could not cope with the rising costs.” ((NARRATOR)) Fish sauce imported mainly from Thailand and Vietnam is arguably the heart and soul of authentic Southeast Asian cooking, indispensable for dishes with worldwide popularity like Som tum or papaya salad. ((Nunthuchgorn Jaruthunmakorn, “The Best Som Tum” Owner (female))) IMM “No need to talk about fish sauce. It’s very expensive now and in shortage. It went up from two dollars to five dollars now.” ((NARRATOR)) Consumers are accustomed to paying more at restaurants, including ethnic-food eateries that often are more affordable than Western fine dining. But they do notice big price changes. (Nutsicha Kaminski, Customers (female))) IMM “Most of them would gradually raise prices, like a $2 increase each time. No one will complain if the portion and the quality of the food is the same. But, some shops just reduced the portion while keeping the prices unchanged. In that case, we feel like it’s not right.” ((NARRATOR)) As the war in Ukraine rages on, fueling market jitters that could drive costs even higher. And restaurant owners are worried higher prices could leave a bad taste in the mouth of their patrons. ((For Supakit Pattarateranon, Nopparat Chaichalearmmongkol for VOA News.))
- NewsML Media Topics Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
- Network VOA
- Embargo Date March 28, 2022 13:45 EDT
- Byline Supakit Pattarateranon
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America