Paper Palate

I get a lot of catalogs, and surprise, surprise, many of them relate to food and cooking.

Which means, that even though I have only ordered one item from Williams-Sonoma in the past five years, I am still getting their catalogs regularly. (I ordered a wafflemaker, which was exclusive to WS, because it was the most highly rated one by someone somewhere. I can’t remember now.)

I always look at the catalog, but seldom find anything that appeals to me, probably because it tends to be very conservative “yuppified” cooking stuff that I either already have, or wouldn’t want in the first place. I cook primarily Chinese, Thai, Indian and Mexican foods at my house, mixed with southern Applachian hillbilly food, and a bit of French or Italian tossed in for fun. But my main culinary loves are Asian, and Williams-Sonoma is just not the place to go when you are looking for stuff for your Asian kitchen.

Well, that was the case until just this week, when I saw that Williams-Sonoma has started carrying, albeit in their catalogs and on the internet only, a whole bunch of Asian-inspired cookware.

I say Asian-inspired, because on the cover of thier catalog is a Chinese-style claypot that is made by Emile Henry–a French company.

And here is where we run into trouble with the entire concept of Williams-Sonoma going ethnic.
Very few Chinese-American cook2 that I know of would pay $90.00 for a 2 quart French-made claypot cooker when they can get one at their neighborhood Asian market for twenty bucks. (Or, failing that, they can go to the Wokshop and order one for $20.00 plus a bit of shipping.

And frankly, I am the same way. Why spend that kind of cash for a bit of cookware that isn’t even really Chinese? Sure, it is pretty, and sure it is stovetop proof, but it is still clay, that can still break. I don’t know, that strikes me as a bit, well, silly. If you break your Chinese clay pot, then you are out twenty dollars. Break the Emile Henry pot and you broke the bank.

The same goes for the Calphalon One Indian style wok: the karahi. (Also known as the kadai, or balti.) Why would someone want to spend $125.00 for one when it is possible to go down to the neighborhood Indian grocer’s and pick up a cast iron one for a fraction of the cost? (Or, failing that, you can order a cast iron wok from the Wok Shop that will serve the same exact purpose, for as little as $14.95.) Why pay for the Calphalon label?

A two-tier 8″ diameter set of bamboo steamers at Williams-Sonoma costs $19.95 plus shipping, while the same item at the Wok Shop is $11.95.

The one item I saw in the catalog that I was thrilled to see, yet dismayed by the price was the Sumeet Multi-Grind. Manufactured in India, the Sumeet grinds dry spices, wet spices, lentils, nuts, corn, and just about anything else you want to put into it up into a fine powder or paste within seconds. It has been an indispensible part of my kitchen for eight years now and has enabled me to make Indian, Thai and Mexican foods much more easily than before. However, the $99.00 price tag, once shipping and tax are included goes up to $124.00.

One could order the Sumeet directly from the company that makes it at a price of $80.00 plus $10.00 shipping and handling.

To order it from Williams-Sonoma, even though they will be shipping from within the US, costs the buyer an extra $34.00, which is pretty outrageous, if you ask me.

So what is Williams-Sonoma up to in selling all of these ethnically-inspired kitchen pieces at prices that are more upscale than they necessarily need to be?

The answer to my question, of course, is this: Williams-Sonoma is not marketing these ethnic cooking pieces not to people who are already aware of them, and use them on a daily basis, like Chinese or Indian-Americans, or anglo cooks like myself who are known to haunt Chinatowns and “Little India” districts every time she goes to a big city. They are marketing this cookware to people who have never bought different ethnic cookware before, and so are ignorant of the prices of them in other venues. The other force at works is that they are marketing to their proven customer base–people who love Emile Henry’s more traditional French clay pieces are going to see the name and connect with it in their heads. To them, it means “quality.”

A no-name claypot from China just doesn’t hold the same cachet to them.

The Sumeet is a perfect example–Williams-Sonoma is trying to sell a very reliable kitchen appliance that does the job that it advertises perfectly, but the name is not well known in the US. They are taking a chance on selling it–hence their markup. They are worried that they will not sell the stock that they bought, because they have to do the work to convince their loyal customers that they -need- the Sumeet in their kitchens, and that is difficult to do. Personally, I think they are going about it wrong by not selling them in thier stores; if people see what the Sumeet grinder is capable of, they would be more likely to purchase it, but that sort of selling has risks, too.

What is the upshot of this post?

Williams-Sonoma may be trying to attact cooks who dabble in Asian cuisines, but my advice is this: don’t bite. Shop around. If you are already going into Asian markets for ingredients, check out the housewares aisles too, and pick up some bargains while you are there.

You will be glad that you did.

Photo courtesy of Williams-Sonoma