Have I become my grandad?

Coffee
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I don’t often go into town, but am in Basel today. I just walked past a shop which sells cinnamon rolls. Is this some misguided business venture by the bored housewife of a rich expat, I wonder to myself, assuming that there’s no way volume on small items could be enough to pay the rent in a central Basel location.

When I looked, a pistachio cinnamon roll cost 7.90. what? Is this normal? Have I gone full grandad and my price level is set back to school days where a can of cola cost 45p. (I still remember the outrage as prices were increased from 15p, to 20p, to 30p to 35p before landing at 45p).

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In short: yes.

Methinks the @PhilMongoose doth protest too much.

My initial reaction was to wholeheartedly agree with you, but then again, don’t we all love capitalism? Price discovery via supply and demand.[$]

Just don’t buy your pistachio cinnamon roll there. Buy your standard cinnamon roll … well, I wouldn’t know. Who eats cinnamon rolls anyways?

More seriously, the old fucks graybeards that we are, we’re kind of anchored to way lower prices.
Compounding applies to prices, too.

$   Except for those index buyers. They drive up the price of EVERYTHING! :wink:
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I do, love ‘em, even make ‘em, but never managed to achieve the greatness that is Fitzbillies, Phil if you find yourself in Cambridge do yourself a favour and visit. Also visit The Cambridge Cheese Company :wink:

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I don’t eat cinnamon rolls either, but would have been tempted to try it for $4.

But I have a rule: it can be unhealthy, or it can be expensive, but it cannot be both unhealthy and expensive!

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Too many unknowns to answer your question.

I’ve never seen a pistaccio cinammon roll in my life so you could have walked by a fancy shop, like those Starbucks that sell lattees at 8+ CHF. I’d say fancy stuff has been expensive even when I was younger.

Could be the size justifies the price (fancy stuff can come in bigger sizes too).

Could be prices in Basel (they may be indexed on health insurance premiums, or taxes, or something, who knows?).

Could be prices have indeed skyrocketed and you remember earlier times when 5 cents bought you a piece of candy.

Could be you’ve become a grumpy old man and any pretext would have been good enough to lament the good old times.

I love that rule and I am stealing it. Thanks for sharing!

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Personally I go for the reverse. If I’m getting something unhealthy might as well splurge and get something really good (means I’m also less tempted to indulge regularly).

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Haha, but it is…baked in! Street hot dogs and kebabs, for instance, or fish and chips, or gyros - these stuff cannot and should not be expensive!

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It’s just a “pistachio cinnamon roll” to you, but it’s a Limited Edition Dubai Cinnamon Roll to those in the know!!

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Recently tried a more premium kebab spot, proper meat and not some kind of pressed meat you find everywhere in Switzerland and homemade bread. I heard Germany has much better meat quality for kebabs! Kebab cost around 50% more but it was really worth it and will no longer waste any money on mediocre products.

A lot of food items demand a premium because they are not consumed regularly and seen as a treat or small luxury. Remember to treat yourself once in a while, especially if its food :slight_smile:

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While we are on the subject. What are good places to get “good quality casual food”. It seems that either you have super expensive and slow ‘fine dining’ on one end of the spectrum, and fast cheap junk like McDonalds on the other side.

Is there any place where you can get food quickly and casually (not a long sit down dinner) but is not serving ultra-processed junk?

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I rather like Tibits in Basel, very tasty even though I am not a vegetarian. Generally one doesn’t come to CH (or any country not around the Mediterranean or Middle East or SE Asia) for the culinary delights.

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£1.50 for a 330ml can of coke :smiling_face_with_tear:

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/coca-cola-original-taste-330ml

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For takeaway/quick bite, there’s lots of decent pizza/kebab/panini/etc I think. I don’t know Basel super well, but things like Vito for fresh pizza slice. You don’t have to go to macdonalds.

For more low key/sit down, I find asian restaurants (e.g. thai, korean, etc) usually pretty good (but same I don’t know Basel well to recommend options). And in general anything that’s close to business offices have lots of quick decent options (but then usually not open on weekends, and not always open for dinner)

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Actually yeah, top class pizza, how they manage to get the crust both crispy and soft to eat it amazing!

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The kitchen Focacceria

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My theory:

Rents for flats in the city have become expensive in recent years. People with lower incomes are moving to the agglomeration, while more and more high-income earners are living in the city (Googlers in the city of Zurich earn as much as I do in 4-5 years). Rents for shops are also rising, while on the other hand, more and more people who can afford to buy expensive goods are living nearby. It seems only logical to me that simple things become more expensive in the city.

At the same time, such things are also bought by “poorer” people, because my generation has always gone to the city to shop.

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Miake Izakaya in Gundeli

Almost all food stalls in Markthalle and Klara

as mentioned, Vito and The Kitchen Focacceria

in Lörrach:

Hermann ze German, great Burgers

Jin’s Noodle Bar, delicious chines noodles and wantans

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Ah yes , the stalls at Markthalle are indeed great and reasonably priced.

Now I have to go to Hermann ZE German only because of the humour in the name.

@markus654 that’s a near textbook definition of gentrification :slight_smile:

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Oh, that’s a TIL for me. I didn’t know the word gentrification before :slight_smile:

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Yeah, it’s not usually said with a good connotation, regular people can be priced out, services change, character changes, and soon enough you have dorks prancing around asking for soymilk cheese to go with their sushi, to fill their wooden bicycles’ basket on their way to the latest and greatest post air yoga classes.

Although I’ve previously argued against the concept of gentrification I am slowly coming around to really seeing its bad sides, mostly the destruction of the old for the temporary, profitable new. Teachers being priced out of renting in parts of Californian cities, for instance, has resulted in severe lack of teachers to fill schools. This will inevitably drop the overall desirability of these areas, rich people will move away and the result would be worse than it was before they came.

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