US menus change with population

Transition of demographics influences culinary culture

MIAMI — Salsa overtaking ketchup as America’s No. 1 condiment was just the start.

These days, tortillas outsell burger and hot dog buns; sales of tortilla chips trump potato chips; and tacos and burritos have become so ubiquitously “American,” most people don’t even consider them ethnic. Welcome to the taste of American food in 2013. As immigrant and minority populations rewrite American demographics, the nation’s collective menu is reflecting this flux, as it always has. And it goes beyond the mainstreaming of once-esoteric ethnic ingredients.

This is a rewrite of the American menu at the macro level, an evolution of whole patterns of how people eat. The difference this time? The biggest culinary voting bloc is Hispanic.

“When you think about pizza and spaghetti, it’s the same thing,” says Jim Kabbani, CEO of the Tortilla Industry Association. “People consider them American, not ethnic. It’s the same with tortillas.”

With Hispanics making up more than a quarter of the U.S. population today — and growing fast — experts say this change is dramatically flavoring the American culinary experience.

Hispanic foods and beverages were an $8 billion market last year, according to consumer research firm Packaged Facts. By 2017, that number may reach $11 billion. And that’s influencing how all Americans eat. Traditional Hispanic foods, or even just the flavors of them, are making their way into our everyday diet, particularly among the millennials — those born between the early ’80s and the turn of the century. Generation Y’s Hispanic community was born into an American culture but still holds onto its traditions.

“They are looking for products that are not necessarily big brands anymore,” says Michael Bellas, chairman of the Beverage Marketing Corp. “They like brands that have character. They are looking for authenticity and purity, but they are also looking for new experiences.”

For example, popular among the millennials and other generations on the West Coast is the Mexican soda Jarritos, which boasts real fruit flavors ranging from mango to guava.

The company’s site showcases a collage of photos taken by Generation Y soda drinkers. Brightly colored sodas pop through their clear vintage-looking bottles. And the bottle caps share a simple message: “Que buenos son,” or “They’re so good.”

Another Hispanic beverage making ever more rounds in households across America is tequila.

In 2006, nearly 107 million liters of tequila were exported to the U.S., a 23 percent increase over 2005, said Judith Meza, representative of the Tequila Regulatory Council. Tequila entered the top 10 of liquors in the world five years ago.

Even our choice of side dishes is feeling the influence. In general, Americans are eating fewer of them — except white rice, a staple of Hispanic cuisines, says Darren Seifer, a food and beverage analyst for The NPD Group, a consumer marketing organization.

Why has rice resisted the death of the side dish? It’s one of the traditions millennial Hispanics have held onto, says Seifer.

And that’s just the start. Rice also was the top-rated side dish in a National Restaurant Association chefs’ survey of what’s hot.

The same survey also found chefs touting taquitos as appetizers; ethnic-inspired breakfast items such as chorizo scrambled eggs; exotic fruits including guava; queso fresco as an ingredient; and Peruvian cuisine.

All of this has meant a near complete loss of ethnicity for many Hispanic foods.

Americans now more closely associate tacos, tortilla chips and burritos with fast food than with Hispanic culture.