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Staying ahead of the wave: Developing new ethnic food products to stay abreast of changing food trends. (Feature Article).

Article Excerpt
As our ethnic populations grow larger each year and continue to influence the nation's eating patterns and habits, identifying the next hot ethnic food is becoming more and more difficult. Foods considered "ethnic" today might be considered mainstream in a few years as exposure to foods from other cultures is becoming more common and widespread throughout the nation.

Food companies have long understood the importance of formulating ethnic foods in response to increased consumption of ethnic foods and to appeal to the growing ethnic contingent in the United States.

"Many times when our clients approach us to develop a new product we steer them in the direction of ethnic foods," says Kimberly Egan, partner at the Culinary Center for Product Development, San Francisco. "Ethnic cuisine is what consumers are looking for, because today's consumer wants excitement, which usually means ethnic food."

But it isn't as easy as creating a new bowl product, a shelf stable taco kit or a frozen gordita. The goal of creating foods that are "ethnic" and are designed to appeal to an "ethnic population" is a moving target. To develop new ethnic food products, food companies must stay in tune with the current trends in ethnic cultures and create new products that are aligned with the cultural influences of the day -- a challenging proposition.

The shape of the future

The youth of our nation may exhibit the most obvious sign of the increasing penetration of ethnic cuisine. According to Wharf Research, a subsidiary for the Culinary Center for Product Development, a large percentage of tweens (kids between ages 10 and 13) are eating quesadillas, sushi, samosas, spring rolls, pot stickers and other ethnic dishes on a common basis. For example, quesadillas are recognized as an everyday food for 87 percent of tweens. Fifty percent of tweens have tried sushi, and of those, 60 percent enjoyed the cuisine. Chinese cuisine ranks as the favorite food for 39 percent of tweens and Mexican cuisine...