It’s called songpyeon: a small, elegant rice cake. Its chewy dough cocoons sweet fillings and, perhaps, even sweeter memories.
Gary Chen recalls how thankful one of his Asian Supermarket shoppers was when he sourced the Korean rice cakes for her.
“When we have something that reminds them of home, customers get really excited about it,” says Chen, Asian Supermarket’s general manager.
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Shaped like little half-moons, songpyeon is stuffed with red bean paste or chestnuts and steamed over pine needles. It is a culinary token of respect during the fall harvest holiday, Chuseok.
And it almost always feels like the holidays inside the Florida Boulevard store.
The inventory, which includes about 20,000 items from Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines, China, Korea, Thailand, Singapore and other Asian countries, rotates to accommodate seasonal traditions.
It’s a mid-September afternoon, and the store is selling the last of the flurry of mooncakes it stocked for the Chinese harvest celebration, Mid-Autumn Festival.
Walking the shop, Chen clutches a cordless landline phone. He answers it midstep, switching swiftly from English to his native Mandarin. He also speaks some Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese.
“I’m always learning about different cultures so I can talk to our customers,” he says.
Asian Supermarket launched in Lafayette in 2009, expanding to Baton Rouge in 2017. Chen’s uncle, Xian Zhong, runs the Lafayette shop. His cousin, Yuki Chen, owns the Baton Rouge location and Asian Seafood House, a restaurant in the same shopping center. It’s known for its dim sum and hot pot.
Chen wanders down an aisle with snacks, plucking a salmon-colored bag of Lay’s off the shelf. The spicy crawfish version from China is a big hit among the shop’s 50-plus varieties of chips.
A case near the front of the store is stuffed with pastries from Taiwan’s popular 85°C Bakery Cafe. And in the ramen section, Chen points out a carbonara flavor. Both are bait for the TikTok crowd.
In the back of the shop, bubbles whir inside large aquariums, temporary homes for live fish and crustaceans. Long, lanky eels seem to peer through the glass. The market’s bestselling blue crabs scurry inside large crates.
Chen shuffles over to the produce aisles, sifting through bins of bitter melon and durian. He scoops up a round purple mangosteen. Depending on the season, it can fetch $10 to $16 per pound—the market’s most expensive fruit.
And there are more rarities in-store, items that Chen says are difficult to find elsewhere.
“We want to bring hometown dishes back to families,” he says, “while also giving American shoppers something new to discover.”
Patrons file in and out. Most roam for a few minutes before carting their stash to the register.
But the grocery bags they tote home hold the key ingredients to holiday spreads or special meals—and lifelong memories.
International markets in the Capital Region
African Market
10655 Florida Blvd.
Sahara African Market
2216 N. Sherwood Forest Drive
Cannatella Grocery
3869 Government St.
Randazzo’s Italian Market
240 Capitol St., Denham Springs
Asian Supermarket
11244 Florida Blvd.
Asian Market
8342 Perkins Road
A-Z International Fine Foods
13461 Tiger Bend Road
Bissmillah Food Market
10655 Florida Blvd.
Fashion India and Groceries
11802 Coursey Blvd.
Hung Thinh Supermarket
1134 Marque Ann Drive
Kased’s International Market
8129 Florida Blvd.
Manam Indian Food and Groceries
4343 S. Sherwood Forest Blvd., C.
Olive Tree’s International Food Inc.
12812 Coursey Blvd.
Oriental Food Market
162 Lee Drive
Vinh Phat Market
12351 Florida Blvd.
Bravitos Market
40235 La. Highway 42, Suite A, Prairieville
El Bodegon Latin Market
10979 Coursey Blvd., Suite H
Ideal Market
1817 S. Sherwood Forest Blvd.
9301 Burbank Drive
Latinos Supermarket
11435 Florida Blvd.
La Mexicana
7034 Siegen Lane
La Mexicana
648 W. La. Highway 30, B., Gonzales
La Morenita Meat Market
7981 Florida Blvd.
Tienda Gloria Mini Market
1308 Florida Ave. SW, Denham Springs
Tienda Latina La Surena
14414 La. Highway 44, Gonzales
Tienda Latina Los Ramos
10449 Airline Highway
Tienda Latina y Restaurante
6001 Siegen Lane
El Tio Supermarket
9656 Burbank Drive
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Tortilleria El Rey
13869 Florida Blvd.
Know an international store we missed? Tell us at [email protected].
This article was originally published in the November 2024 issue of 225 Magazine.