OK, anecdote where n = 1, but this doesn&#x27;t ring true to me.  I personally pay approximately as much for the average Thai, Mexican, Indian, Cuban, etc. meal, when dining out, as I do for an average &quot;American&quot; meal.  But then again, I rarely ever pay more than $30 or so for a meal (per person) unless I&#x27;m on a date, or I&#x27;m eating on someone else&#x27;s dime (eg, when traveling for work and on an expense account that&#x27;s charged back to the customer).<p>And the thing is, I&#x27;d happily pay more for good Thai food than I do now, but nobody charges more.  Maybe there&#x27;s some weird market imbalance thing going on, or maybe I&#x27;m really weird, but I think local Thai restaurants could charge more and still do well.  But as it happens, all the Thai places nearby are in that range of about $11-$13 for an entree and $4-$10 for an appetizer.  I&#x27;m <i>glad</i> I can get such awesome food for not a ton of money, but I definitely feel like I&#x27;m getting a great deal.<p>For me personally, if there were a Thai place within walking distance of me that was high quality but was 50% more expensive (or maybe even more) compared to say, Thai Cafe on University Drive in Durham, I&#x27;d eat there and probably quite often.<p>I think I could say the same about a lot of the &quot;ethnic&quot; food I eat, although Thai is definitely my favorite.  Heck, to be honest, when I say &quot;ethnic food&quot; I consider that a badge of honor or something, not a mark of inferiority.