Keeping it real: diners express increased desire for authentic, cultural cuisine and restaurant-style quality

Nation's Restaurant News, July 19, 2004 by Paul King

There is a very good reason nearly 120 chefs from college campuses all over the country spent a week at the University of Massachusetts in June, learning to prepare authentic foods from Thailand, India and Spain.

Their foodservice directors sent them because their customers are clamoring for more and more authentic ethnic foods.

Between increased travel and media coverage of international cuisines, as well as the country's growing ethnic populations, foods from all over widely are welcomed at on-site outlets nationwide, foodservice officials say.

"People today are so sophisticated and worldly that the usual types of ethnic cuisines--Chinese, Mexican, Italian--aren't nearly enough any more," said Ken Toong, director of residential and retail dining at UMass. "They want much more variety, and they want it to taste like it's real. They watch the Food Network, and they know what's authentic and what's not."

So chefs came to UMass to learn from such knowledgeable sources as Vilai and Prakas Yenbamroong, owners of two Thai restaurants in California; Valeria Molinelli, who is a Peruvian native and an instructor at Johnson and Wales University and is well-versed in Central and South American cuisines; and Susheela Raghavan Uhl, who specializes in Indian cuisine.

College campuses are not the only venues where authentic ethnic cuisines are in demand. Whether in school cafeterias, corporate dining rooms or major-league ballparks, customers expect more ethnic variety in the menus they're being presented with.

A quick look at the winners of Cater-lympics, the third annual food show for Long Island, N.Y.-based Culinart, which specializes in corporate dining, bears out that statement.

The People's Choice Award went to "Tastes of Vietnam," a variety of dishes that could be presented as finger foods or on plates for more substantial meals. Other honored presentations were for a Nuevo Latino appetizer sampler, a tasting of Southwestern foods called Santa Fe Junction and a similar display of Greek foods.

"From my experience this year at both Reliant Stadium [in Houston] and Shea Stadium [in New York], people are more interested in ethnic cuisine, i.e. Latin-influenced or Southern-inspired menus," said Jason Forrest, executive chef for Aramark Sports and Entertainment Services at Shea Stadium. "The average person is looking for much more than a hot dog or burger when they go to the ball game. I would imagine that is due to people being more educated about food in general as well as all the television programs that have made being a chef so popular."

As a result, fans at Shea can order Cuban sandwiches and other Latin foods and even sushi if they want, Forrest said.

"Our employee customers have a greater desire to see foods that closely resemble what's available in restaurants," says Sally Saltzbart Minier, foodservice director for Lehman Brothers in New York City. "This is especially true with Indian, Thai and Japanese cuisines. This presents a real challenge for us, but we have in Restaurant Associates, our foodservice provider, a company that operates restaurants and can tap into that knowledge base for recipes and cooking skills. Our employees benefit from that experience."

Becky Williams, a chef for Eurest Canada, a Compass Group company, agrees.

"Consumers are looking for the authentic version, not the North Americanized version, of ethnic foods," Williams says. "They want to be educated and learn more about the exotic ingredients used in these cuisines. 'Spicy' is the No. 1 choice for adult consumers. Baby boomers' taste buds are dulling, and they are demanding more flavor."

Even in school districts the demand for ethnic foods is rising as more and more ethnic groups enter school systems and demand that their cultures be represented.

In the St. Paul, Minn., School District, students are likely to find items like Hmong beef fried rice or Thai sweet-and-sour chicken. Those are among the foods tested last fall by the district's foodservice department.

Jean Ronnei, the district's foodservice director, says she asked parents to help by supplying recipes that her department could use.

"We wanted to have authentic foods, to create a real and fun experience for the kids," Ronnei says. "We have a large percentage of Asian and Hispanic cultures in our district, and we want to be true to them."

Ronnei says she hopes to introduce a number of menu items this fall, after evaluating results of the menu tests conducted last school year.

In the New York City public-school system, the nation's largest, foodservice managers are encouraged to take the commodities supplied to them and prepare them to suit their students' tastes.

"We give the schools chicken, for example," explains David Berkowitz, executive director of the district's Food and Nutrition Services. "If you want to serve chicken teriyaki on Staten Island, go ahead. If you're in a school in the South Bronx and you want to serve jerk chicken, do it."

Ellie Dryer, director of nutrition services for St. Mary's/Duluth Clinic Health System in Duluth, Minn., says her department's use of ethnic foods is being driven by the widening cultural base of both the hospital's patients and employees.