In recent days, the image of a foreign visitor sitting and picking vegetables like water spinach at Noi Bai airport has caused a fever on social networks. Many people joke that perhaps vegetables in America are expensive so the customer goes travel just took the opportunity to pick up some vegetables to bring back to the country.
Also from this image, a story related to the price of water spinach in the US attracted the online community.
In the state of Georgia in the Southeast region of the United States, this vegetable has been considered illegal for many decades.
According to Atlanta magazine, spinach has been banned in this state since the 1970s due to its invasive nature. This plant needs moist soil to grow. They are described as growing like weeds that consume nearby water sources and harm native plants.
In addition, water spinach is also considered to produce breeding environment for destructive mosquitoes lakes and ponds, especially in areas with humid subtropical climates such as Georgia and Florida.
For a long time, people of Asian descent living in Georgia had to buy water spinach from the states of Florida and Texas. They even secretly sell vegetables in cars in supermarket parking lots or deliver them to customers’ homes.
Jenny Vo, CEO of two local supermarkets, City Farmers Market and Hong Kong Supermarket, revealed There was a time when the price of water spinach sold on the black market was up to 22 USD/kg (more than 515,000 VND). This price is 3 times higher than in other states.
When you go to a restaurant and want to eat water spinach, you have to ask carefully and secretly, like does your place sell that vegetable?” Ms. Jenny Vo recalls.
In 2021, in the election in Georgia, spinach continued to become a hot topic. State Assemblyman Marvin Lim recognized this vegetable when he visited the village where his mother grew up in the Philippines.
From there, he researched and talked with experts from Florida and Texas to learn how these states cultivate water spinach. without harming the environment. The collection of opinions on the request for water spinach to be approved in the state of Georgia received 100,000 signatures with high consensus.
In 2022, the Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA) officially allowed the Restaurants in the state are allowed to import and put spinach on their menus to serve customers.
However, until now growing spinach is not allowed in the state of Georgia. Supermarkets and grocery stores are only allowed to sell water spinach in the case of “cutting the root very deeply so that the roots are not left behind” so that customers cannot replant the vegetable when they bring it home.
To date, this vegetable now appears at regular grocery stores selling at a more reasonable price of about 6 USD/kg (more than 140,000 VND).
Meanwhile, Ms. Le Thuy Duong, 34 years old, from Nam Dinh, currently living in the US, said that the price of water spinach in her state usually falls around 70,000 VND/0 454kg (calculated in units). pounds). Thus, a kilogram of water spinach will cost about 175,000 VND. But in the off-season, this vegetable can cost up to 143,000 VND/0 454kg, equivalent to 360,000 VND/kg.
According to Ms. Duong, water spinach in particular and other Asian vegetables are not popular in the US. because it only serves the Asian community. Most Americans do not like spinach because it is tough. They often eat soft vegetables such as salads or cauliflower…
“Because it is not very popular and is rarely grown with low yields, it is understandable that spinach is more expensive than other vegetables. However, compared With the standard of living in the US, this price is normal and not too expensive,” Ms. Duong said.
Regarding the information that water spinach is more expensive than pork in the US, Ms. Duong said it depends on the time and the situation. The meat portion of water spinach can be more expensive than pork. Pork is priced from 2.5 to 5.78 USD/0 454kg while spinach ranges from 2.5 to 5.99 USD/0 454kg.
The woman from Nam Dinh added that the US has regulations Very strict about bringing agricultural products into this country by air.
This country’s regulations prohibit people entering the country from bringing along vegetable, fruit, meat, and processed seeds. from meat. One of the main reasons is because the US is afraid of the risk of epidemics.
“A few years ago my mother came to visit me from Vietnam and brought some lemons with her. When entering the country at the airport In Chicago, I was detained by airport security for 2 hours to check all of my belongings. They said I absolutely cannot bring lemons or fruit or vegetable seeds in my luggage,” Ms. Duong shared experience.
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