Someone typed the following into google to get to my blog... and I realize I've done it all backassed. Anyone really wanting to break something down - really ought to just get with the current corporate outlook by picking up a marketing journal - like the following: Journal of Hospitality & Leisure Marketing:
The International Forum for Research, Theory, and Practice
Changing Times Consumers Choice of Ethnic Foods When Eating at Restaurants
Page Range: 5 - 32
DOI: 10.1300/J150v14n04_02
Copyright Year: 2006
Contributors: Mary G. Roseman PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Hospitality Management and Tourism Program, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40506, mrose2@uky.edu
Abstract:
This study explores consumers' reasons for choosing ethnic food when eating at restaurants based on ten ethnic food types. Frequency for eating out was highest among those very likely or somewhat likely to eat Mexican, Italian, American or “other” ethnic food. Demographic characteristics most significant in relation to likelihood to eat ethnic food were race, education, and place of residency. A consumer profile for each of the ten ethnic foods based on demographic characteristics is presented. Of the six reasons for choosing ethnic food, “food different from what I have at home” was stated most often, followed by “like food of a different ethnicity/culture than me” and “food with a variety of different tastes.” These findings have implications in the development of marketing strategies and restaurant menus using ethnic foods.
(and I'm left scratching my ass as to why it is that marketers are always ahead of the people in my current 'occupation'... I should know better - I was one of them at one point!).
Expect a part 2 of 'food and authenticity' at some point in the future - after I read the market report info... I wouldn't be surprised if we realize that it's already all there. It really is all similar to 'tourism'...
leftist looney lunchbox: force 'feeding' white patriarchal supremacy, one tandoori flavoured dorito's chip at a time
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2 comments:
I would say that the allure of "difference" is another reason, in light of how we exoticize "foreign" culture here in Anglo America. US food manufacturers' love affair with the French is a good case in point---"French Roast" coffee, "French"-style cakes, "French" coffee presses, Provencal-style cooking and Parisian-style cafes. The word "French" is associated in the Anglo-American mind with romance, sophistication, and quality.
But at least the French are seen as intellectual and cultural equals. That's more than I can say for Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Everyone loves bragging about their Sumatra-harvested premium beans and "fair trade" cocoa, but we know damn well that that the people producing the coffee and cocao beans are as objectified as the products they're making. And these folks sure aren't looked to as the arbiters of sophistication or quality. No, they're just part of the earth, like nature.
as always - you are SOOO on the mark, YC.
I remember doing this coffee survey about 6 yrs ago for this Phd student.
This was just around the time when "fair-trade' was making it's mark on our coffee consumption. Nearly all the photos/adverts promos always had a very 'orientalist' feel to them, I mean they could easily have been photos of people working on plantations - there was no difference in the 'way' the photos were taken. Very National Geographic...othering and colonial.
I can't find examples online...
but in order to sell a product, you need to actually percieve the 'culture' as a static entity... and by relation the people as monolithic/static entities.
But as always, you're spot on! :)
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