Editorial Local cuisines: a growing opportunity for PLs

Local cuisines: a growing opportunity for PLs

Maria Teresa Manuelli Editorial director

According to Innova Market Insights, globally, almost half of consumers have affirmed to increasingly look for food specialties of other countries, with the Mediterranean and the Asian cuisines are at the top of the list of their favorites. One out of 5 consumers has stated to be “very interested” in South-American tastes and 1 out of 10 has declared the same for African tastes. How can we interpret these trends? Going beyond the limits of national borders, Italian local flavors and traditional recipes have great potential. In fact, it is nice to see that within the great segmentation of Mediterranean tastes, the most globally appreciated taste is the ‘Italian’ one, while the more generic ‘Mediterranean’ is in the top-three, followed by the ‘Spanish’ and the ‘Greek’ flavor. Proof of this success is that some US chains have just added to their sausages supplies the ‘Italian’ option. And, according to the survey, the simple ‘Italian’ or ‘Mediterranean’ indication on the packaging is enough to add value to the product. Other cuisines were also able to cross their national borders and are rapidly spreading, such as the Asian, Middle-East and African cuisines, even though penetration varies from country to country. For example, Waitrose, the British grocery chain, launched the food line, ‘The Levantine Table’ in 2021, inspired by the Levant Region of Middle-East, which includes Israeli, Jordanian, Libanese, Palestinian, Syrian, Turkish and Cypriot cuisines. With more than 100 references, this is an important supply that shows the distributor’s great trust in the potential of these international foods. Obviously, there are many factors involved in generating demand for global flavors: travels - tourism and migration - but also media coverage (social media included) and catering trends. In particular, the growth of street foods in some parts of the world is widening consumers’ horizons and creating trends that are replicated at home - and brought on the shelves of distribution even before. On the other hand, some international preferences are growing based on healthy beliefs, i.e. fermented foods - kombucha, kimchi, miso etc. So, numerous factors boost, and will continue to boost the constant demand for international ‘concepts’ in the future. However, when it comes to tastes, it seems that the world has become a smaller and smaller place and at the same time a great opportunity for Italian companies and supply chains, as we learnt in the cover story of this number.