‘We eat this food every day’: Tariffs could come at the cost of culture in DC area

On a rainy Sunday, shoppers dashed from the Talbott Center parking lot and climbed a flight of stairs to a longtime Maryland grocery store and gift shop.

Maruichi in Rockville has been the go-to place since 2000 for shoppers hankering for Japanese foods and items, such as bento boxes and soy sauce holders, as well as Japanese cosmetics and drugstore products.

The steady stream of customers included a family perusing the narrow aisles examining candies and chips, as well as a woman eyeing the onigiri — Japanese rice balls — and hot foods made fresh in the store.

Some regular customers chatted with the cashier and said hello to owner Tetsu Ichino.

Bracing for price hikes

With a flurry of tariffs threatening to hike prices on foreign imports, there are questions over how that will trickle down on consumers, including the cuisine they eat at restaurants or the food they make at home. 

Ichino said his distributors have been warning him that there will be a price change in the products that he stocks on his shelves.

On April 2, which White House officials called “Liberation Day,” President Donald Trump announced new and higher tariffs against several countries. In response, some countries announced their own “retaliatory tariffs,” sparking trade concerns and stock market fluctuations. But just hours later, Trump suspended the higher reciprocal tariffs for 90 days.

Currently, there is a 10% levy on nearly all global imports, The Associated Press reported.

Ichino said the price change for some products in his store has not been significant enough, but it’s hard to tell what will happen in July when the higher tariffs go into effect.

“I can’t really read what might happen,” Ichino said, but added that it’s not going to be a complete surprise to his customers if prices go up a bit. “That’s not a good thing for myself or the customers because we’re going to be paying the bulk of what the tariffs are going to be collecting.”

‘Last vestige of culture’

Grace Kwon, a doctorate student at the University of Maryland, said with the threat of high tariffs, she has heard some are already starting to make concessions.

Kwon’s research focuses on ethnic entrepreneurship for Asian Americans, particularly in the D.C. region, and how that’s linked to foodways.

“Foodways is everything that’s connected to, basically, how we produce food, how we eat food, how, culturally, we identify with food,” Kwon explained.

With the threat of higher tariffs, however, eating at home may not be affordable either, especially if you’re using products that are being affected by price increases.

“I think people don’t realize that for some people, going to a Korean restaurant or a Chinese restaurant or Japanese, Thai or anywhere else, is just maybe one time for them, out of a week or out of a month. But for some of us, we eat this food every day,” Kwon said.

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“Folks will give up their language, their clothing, even in some cases, various other artifacts of representation of their culture. But food tends to be a very difficult element of culture that people will give up. Primarily, because food reminds people of home.” 

— Professor Psyche Williams-Forson, University of Maryland

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In immigrant communities, the “last vestige of culture” that people tend to give up is food, according to Psyche Williams-Forson, a professor at the University of Maryland.

“Folks will give up their language, their clothing, even in some cases, various other artifacts of representation of their culture,” Williams-Forson said. “But food tends to be a very difficult element of culture that people will give up. Primarily, because food reminds people of home.”

At Maruichi, Reona Nomura, of Virginia, stocked up on her favorite snacks, including mochi and rice crackers, as well as some seasonings. They’re not essentials, but they’re her favorite.

“It just feels like I’m home, which is Japan,” Nomura said.

Food is tied to memory and to comfort, Williams-Forson said, and it’s one of the ways people seek out a sense of familiarity.

“So you will go to a store or to a bodega, or you’re going to go to a friend’s house where you can get the food that smells like what you’re familiar with, that tastes like what you’re familiar with, that looks like what you’re familiar with, just even for that hour to feel like you’re at home,” Williams-Forson said, adding that it’s similar for people serving in the military all over the world.

Sourcing spices

With the cost of higher tariffs trickling down to consumers, the immediate impact would be that people will likely go ahead and pay the higher price. But in the long term, some people may be forced to find substitutes, Williams-Forson said.

But there are some foods and ingredients that cannot be made or grown in the U.S. for several reasons, including lack of technology and different environments.

Spices, for instance, would be hard to replace with domestic options.

“These are very unique commodities that have specialized flavors,” said Laura Shumow, executive director of the American Spice Trade Association. “They provide unique flavors that can’t really be replicated with substitutes.”

One of these flavors can be found in almost every spice rack: Black pepper.

Black pepper is one of the most commonly imported spices to the U.S. It grows in tropical climates of Vietnam, India and Brazil, as well as Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia.

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While black pepper could be grown under special conditions, Shumow said it cannot be grown in commercially-relevant quantities to feed American consumers.

“We just simply don’t have the climate conditions that will support the growth of black pepper here,” Shumow said.

The majority of spices are sold into packaged foods or to restaurants, and with the higher tariffs looming, costs will be passed along to customers.

“There is an expectation that we’ll see an increase in food prices,” Shumow said.

American tastes

Williams-Forson said the tariff increase is going to affect everyone in the long run, from the people in Montgomery County going to Adams Morgan for Eritrean or Ethiopian food, to the people in Loudoun County who come in to D.C. or Alexandria to eat at restaurants.

“This is not just about immigrant communities not being able to get their access to their foodways. This is about all of us who enjoy a range of foods,” Williams-Forson said.

She added that people from around the world have contributed to food culture in the U.S.

“Immigrant foodways are American foodways because we are all immigrants to this country,” Williams-Forson said. “American culture is immigrant culture.”

Kwon said it’s scary to think what might happen if prices become too expensive for people to enjoy the foods they like.

“How much of that is going to affect the ways in which the younger generation now will connect with foods that their parents are trying to introduce?” Kwon said.

While people may keep buying the foods affected by the tariffs despite higher prices or look for comparable substitutes, some may just stop buying them. The long-term effects can mean repercussions for culture and heritage, Kwon said.

When families have to weigh whether to purchase certain types of ingredients or food and they are doing it less frequently, “In ways, it can slowly start to erase parts of who you are,” Kwon said.

Food is an important way Asian Americans take part in their culture.

“When we’re not able to participate in those parts of ourselves, or we’re having to concede them because we may be not be able to afford them, then that starts to slowly chip away at who we are,” Kwon said.

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