Assignment #11: Fish Out of Water
Rebecca Naeve
Word Count: 547
Assignment #11: Fish Out of Water
I attended an Asian marketplace called Maxim Market on De Anza Boulevard in Cupertino on Sunday, April 10. Considering that I am not Asian, very tall and white, it is safe to say that I felt as though I stuck out like a sore thumb. Multiple people have told me to check out an Asian market, if nothing else for the various ingredients they have for cooking vegetarian meals – I was strict vegetarian for seven years and there has always a certain degree of curiosity on my part because many Asian cuisines make delicious meat-free meals.
Since this was my first time attending a market that is strictly labeled as Asian, I have nothing else to compare it to, so I am hoping that this gave me a relatively accurate feel for what a typical Asian market has to offer. While it would be somewhat redundant to state that about 99.9 percent of the customers were Asian, I do feel it necessary to point that out to illustrate why I felt out of place. With that out of the way, I will say that it was an interesting experience. The building is large and spacious with room for many different vendors, yet part of me felt like we should all be outside versus inside. There were many different foods, spices and meat, many of which I could not identify without the help of a meat eater. As of right now I am a pescetarian (a fish eater only) with a growing penchant for seafood, but some of the things I saw I do not think I could stomach, mainly because I tend to play it pretty safe with salmon, tuna, snapper and shrimp.
I had been warned that some Asian markets are not always the cleanest so I prepared myself for the worst (a great defense mechanism, in my humble opinion) but was pleasantly surprised to find that the market was very well-kempt, despite a slightly odd, fishy sort of odor. This did not surprise me too much considering the large selection of seafood they offered for sale – I took it in stride as much as I could. They had a wide selection of snack foods and even a place to get hot noodle soup, which I passed on as I had just eaten prior to my arrival. There was a fairly large crowd; many families were there shopping together, and while I feel that I received a few strange looks, it was not as bad as I had anticipated. Feeling slightly more confident, I decided to stay a little while longer so I could really walk around the market to take everything in.
Overall, I am glad I went. I do not think that I would go back because I do not cook that much Asian cuisine, and also because I did feel quite out of place. Not being of Asian descent, female and very tall, these factors garnered a few strange glances which made me rather uncomfortable. As I said, it did not deter me from leaving, but it did make me feel self-conscious enough not talk to anybody and to make the decision to not return to that particular market in the future.
