Why Easter is looking a lot like Christmas
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CHRISTMAS comes but once a year – but not, it would seem, if you take a glance at supermarkets’ Easter offerings which this year include turkey, panettone and stollen.
While traditional Easter foods include a leg of lamb and hot cross buns, retailers have this year added Christmas products with an “Easter twist” to their ranges.
Aldi is selling turkey crowns, as well as smoked salmon macaroni cheese for the Easter table.
The supermarket is specifically marketing the items for Easter and said it expects its “rich macaroni cheese bakes with either delicious oak smoked Atlantic salmon or luxurious crayfish and crab filling” to prove popular when they are released on Thursday.
Iceland is also marketing turkey to be eaten over the Easter weekend, and is calling the traditional Christmas meat the “star of the show” in adver- tisements. Other supermarkets are also blurring the culinary lines between the holidays.
Panettone – a bread-like cake studded with dried fruit to be eaten at breakfast – is a traditional Italian Christmas treat.
However, Waitrose is stocking an “Easter egg” version, baked in the shape of an egg rather than the traditional tall style. It contains chocolate chips rather than dried fruit.
The supermarket said: “A Christmas classic gets an egg-citing Easter makeover with our new egg-shaped Waitrose Christmas panettone.
“Our panettone is made with a traditional sourdough recipe nurtured since 1964. This is combined with butter and chocolate and topped with pastel coloured sugar discs to make this treat look as pretty as an Easter egg.”
Dutch store Hema has also been promoting an “Easter stollen”, despite the bread being a traditional German Christmas delicacy.
In other cases, Easter treats have taken on a Christmas flavour. Aldi has broadened its range of hot cross buns If you want your Easter to be more like Christmas shops including John Lewis, Lidl and Tesco sell Easter trees which can be decorated with Easter-themed baubles.
Carrotshaped crackers are on sale at John Lewis priced at £10 for a packet of six, while Tesco stocks bunting decorated with pastel-coloured rabbits.
Wreaths, full of flowers and eggs can be bought from Marks and Spencer or John Lewis and, if that’s not enough, replace your Nativity set with one depicting the resurrection of Jesus. to include chocolate and toffee and cranberry and orange, with sales now double last year’s.
“This is far more strategic than supermarkets wheeling out their old Christmas stock,” said Charles Banks, co-founder at food trends firm The Food People.
“The UK has a uniquely competitive supermarket culture. This drives innovation as companies fight for differentiation by developing new products.
“Supermarkets are targeting consumers with food that they already associate with celebration, family time and relaxation. If it proves successful this year,you should expect to see even more Easter foods with a Christmas twist next year.”
Easter has also been given a “millennial” flavour this year, with one of the most popular offerings being an avocado egg.
The chocolate egg, available at Waitrose, is shaped like half of an avocado, and has been so sought-after that many have taken to social media to complain it was out of stock.
“Free-from” takes on Easter favourites are also on the rise, catering for those who have cut gluten and dairy products out of their diets.
A Waitrose spokesman said: “Sales of our dairy-free egg (from brand Moo Free) are up 45 per cent on the same time last year.”
Marks and Spencer experienced similar spike in its vegan egg sales.
A spokesman said: “Sales of our Made Without Dairy Dark Chocolate Egg are up 13 per cent on last year.”
Gluten-free and dairy-free hot cross buns are also proving more popular this year.
Alexa Masterson, product developer at Sainsbury’s, said: “We’re committed to opening doors for those who have specific dietary requirements and Easter is no exception.
“Our Deliciously FreeFrom products, including our popular Easter eggs and brand new hot cross buns, mean that even more people are able to enjoy the celebrations together.
“We’ve seen overwhelming appetite for our Deliciously FreeFrom hot cross buns which launched this year, and are now the best-selling product in our FreeFrom morning goods range.”
‘Supermarkets are targeting consumers with food they already associate with celebration and family time’
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