08.29.2007

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Multicultural Foods

Armchair Cooking, Travel And The New Ethnic Dining Frontier

The stepping stones to widespread desires for new multicultural tastes have been well established and the spread of ethnic foods among the general population has followed both a dining path and a packaged goods route. In American supermarkets "specialty food" products such as Greek olives, Taco shells, kosher matza, and Thai canned curry are no longer isolated in sections unto themselves; instead they can be found integrated with their commercial counterparts on grocery store shelves.

Hispanic food and culture is perhaps the most pervasive ethnic food trend spreading across the four corners of the United States. Highlighting the growing interest in Hispanic food culture among consumers and food retailers and restaurants alike, the September 2007 Gourmet Magazine is a special issue devoted to depicting the enormous breadth of Latino influence within American culture. As Gourmet editor Ruth Reichl describes in her editor's letter, "There are few places in America where the influence of the people who have come here from Mexico, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru is not being felt."

It's hard to imagine that today's culturally ubiquitous cuisines (Chinese, Mexican or Italian) were once considered mysterious - even exotic. The globalization of food preferences is a trend, which is normal to today's youth who speak a food language reminiscent of spice traders from the 18th century. We are also finding that there are strong desires among diverse consumers for new "flavors and tastes" and a curiosity about the cultures from which they originate. Such desires for all things "different" are nurtured by both a need for alternatives to traditional "American" food, as well as true worldliness. Desires for new tastes are also compounded by what is now everyday exposure, via portals like the Food Network and the Travel channel, to a wide range of cuisines and cultures.

Food-u-Tainment: Household Muzak Becomes Global Cuisine

The demographics of consumers interested in experiencing something new and different through the world of food has radically changed and expanded from yesteryear when cooking and travel shows were limited to Saturdays on PBS. In many consumers' homes across America, the Food Network is used very much like Muzak in elevators - as an ambient background, left on as members of households go about their everyday lives. The reasons for this phenomenon are simple, consumers cite the Food Channel as one that is "wholesome" family programming and something "everyone in the family" likes to watch. Like music, food programming can easily be tuned out or back in when something piques a household member's interest. Moreover, food programming is comforting (like food itself) and opens up possibilities for new experiences with healthier foods, regional foods, ethnic foods, regional ethnic foods and multicultural foods. In our recent poll on multicultural food trends, 61% of Americans say they watch cooking shows on television, with just under a quarter (21%) saying they do so frequently. Another 31% of Americans agree that they try ethnic cooking at home because they "watch a lot of cooking programs showing different cuisines."

Like armchair travelers in Anne Tyler's Accidental Tourist, consumers may not necessarily be able to travel to faraway places to try these exotic cuisines, and while not straying too far from their usual repertoire of Old Faithful meals prepared at home, they are still aspirational travelers and epicureans in spirit. As a soundtrack scored for multiple films, food (like movie stars) is now entertainment and a national obsession that can be pursued from the couch, at a farmers' market or bookstore, while eating out, or shopping for groceries.

Baby Boomers and Globetrotters: Armchair Escape...Travel, Travel, Travel

If food is ambient music for many a household, travel can be said to be the carrot dangling in front of the collective work-a-day world of Baby Boomers. In our study, Baby Boomers 2006, the most consistently expressed desire for the immediate future among Boomers is to plan, save for and imagine more opportunities for travel. The intersection between travel and food captures the spirit of creative adventure that accompanies how Boomers view travel and food opportunities. Though a significant segment of the population with tremendous spending power, Boomers are not the only travel and food enthusiasts: almost one-quarter (22%) of the population has visited more than three countries. American consumers' interest in food from other cultures, fueled by their growing desire for unique and distinct flavor and taste experiences, is depicted in Figure 1. As the chart illustrates, consumers who travel to a wide array of countries are prone to seek out and incorporate foods from other cultures as a regular food option during the course of a typical week.

Figure 1. Consumers see ethnic foods as exotic and as a way to add variety

Hartman Interactive Ethnic and Multicultural Survey, July 2007 (n=between 86 and 332)

Aunt Bee Revisited: Mayberry Seeking Ethnic

If we consider that the typical urban dweller is fortunate enough to choose a different ethnic food every night of the week, by contrast, our ethnographic research shows consumers in rural settings displaying less openness to ethnic (e.g., "foreign") foods. This disparity may actually be due to a lack of access and availability as much as a simple lack of desire. Such findings underscore the fact that while "multicultural" and "ethnic" have long been defined in less populated locales as dining on Americanized Italian, Mexican and Chinese food (and shopping "specialty" aisles in their local supermarkets), demand for ethnic foods is a far reaching phenomenon that cuts across regions and demographics (Figure 2).

Figure 2. No where to dine: Access and interest are primary reasons why rural consumers haven't dined on or tried ethnic foods*

*Figure 2 is a representative example of how consumers responded to why they haven't tried Greek food from a list of 25 ethnic foods

Hartman Interactive Ethnic and Multicultural Survey, July 2007 (n=between 11 and 162)

Take Away

Americans of different ages and in diverse locales no longer just eat "Italian food," but refer to specific regional or local specialties such as rustic peasant-style Tuscan cuisine, the brilliant ingredients that sunny Sicily offers such as tart and juicy blood oranges or the famed liqueur limoncello made with sweet Sicilian lemons. Any customs officials can tell you, suitcases from abroad are often stuffed with dried spices and ingredients from travelers' journeys in hopes to recreate an element of their culinary and cultural experience back home. Today, consumers have a multicultural perspective on food and love to try new ethnic foods by having it prepared for them, intimating rich possibilities for prepared food and diverse dining experiences.

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