Have you ever wondered what the world's most popular cuisine is? CNN Travel has listed the top 10 popular cuisines and 4 of them are from Asia. Meanwhile, another survey shows that Americans are also fond of Asian food. 6 out of 10 popular cuisines are from Asia, according to Chef’s Pencil.
It seems like Americans began embracing Asian foods when people wanted a good hearty meal but didn’t want to cook.
As an Asian, there is no doubt that Asian cuisine is always the right choice for me when I am hungry. But, what about other races? I’ve been asking around my non-Asian friends, the most common answers are … it’s a convenient, fresh, nutritious, delicious, and comforting to most people. In other words, those foods could be rich and greasy.
Which brings up the topic: which to go container should restaurants choose to store their menu items in if customers order takeout? This article will provide choices for new restaurant owners so you’ll know how to choose the right to go containers.
Bento Style Asian Cuisine
“Bento” means a box of food. In American culture, it can be known as a “combo meal”. It’s a box with one main entrée, one staple food, and several side dishes. The most common examples are Teriyaki Chicken Combo or Pork Chop Combo. The serving size is usually good for one person. To most Asians, even though the size of a meal matters, the variety of food in one meal is considered a hearty meal. In order to store different dishes in one box without mixing the flavors, the microwavable multiple compartment to-go containers are ideal for this Asian cuisine. Of course, if you’d like to use an eco-friendly take-out container, Karat Earth mineral-filled multiple compartments to-go containers are a great choice. These are made with 50% mineral content, which lessens the time of decomposition.
Single serve take out containers such as disposable bento boxes are ideal to pack complete meals. With a selection between two distinct design types, each with varying shapes and compartments, you cannot go wrong with microwaveable bento containers.
Home-cooking style Asian cuisine means the dishes are very easy to cook at home. If you are curious about what dishes are considered home-cooking style, think of Panda Express’s menu. Usually, this type of restaurant serves a big portion per dish and everyone eats a little from eat plate, also known as family style. Since most of the dishes are pan-fried or sauteed, which contains lots of oil, a 1 compartment microwaveable to go container is a smart choice because the matching lid can seal the top completely and the size is enough for a family.
If the dishes are not thickened by corn starch, like Kung Pau Chicken, Beijing Beef, String Bean Chicken Breast, etc., or, if you are running a similar restaurant to Panda Express, you can also use food pails as the to-go boxes. These containers are very typical containers for Chinese takeout because they are grease resistant. Pro tip – you can unfold the box to make a shareable plate for everyone to easily grab from.
Street Food Style Asian Cuisine
In Asia, spending time in the night market or a religious carnival market is a very common leisurely activity. These markets always provide lots of small food to feed people fast so visitors can save time to shop around. Common street food includes popcorn chicken, deep-fried calamari, grilled mochi skewer, xiao long bao, deep-fried sandwich, taegim, etc. Since the purpose of these food is to eat them while walking along, paper food trays make the most sense. They are wide open and are lined with a food grade lining to prevent leakage. Another consideration for these foods deep-fried or less greasy dishes are fold to go containers. These containers are perfect for food delivery because they are stackable.
Soup Base Asian Cuisine
Soup also plays an important role in Asian cuisine. Whether it’s Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, or Vietnamese food, soup or noodle soup is quite a common dish on the table. Because of the nature of this gourmet, you have to choose a container that is leak-proof and heat tolerant. The standard container for soup is Karat Injection Molded Deli containers. If you’d like to choose something environmentally friendly, choosing Karat Earth paper food containers is the best alternative. These containers are heat-resistant and sturdy enough to hold hot soup, so it won’t spill during transport.
Noodle soup, on the other hand, needs to take an extra step to pack. As we all know, noodles will get mushy if they stay in the soup for a while. So, some restaurants use separate deli containers to keep the noodles dry. However, using more than one container for a dish creates more waste and is also doubled your container cost, I would recommend using Karat 24 oz. 28oz. or 32 oz. paper food containers with a plastic insert. This plastic insert can separate the noodles and toppings from the soup so your customers can enjoy the noodle soup even if they order it to go.
Most Asian cuisines are hot dishes. Make sure you use heat-resistant containers to serve the customers.
As you can see, there is more than Chinese take out and with each unique Asian cuisine, you can find the perfect to go container to handle any one.
