Elevating the American Palate

Just as the American population has always been a melting pot of nationalities, so has the American food scene been a simmering stew of flavors, ingredients and cooking methods.

Initially, our palates were shaped by immigration from the British Isles and Germany, which gave us solid, hearty fare such as sausages, porridge and pot roast with potatoes. Eventually, Italian newcomers brought their spicy tomato sauces and pastas … and pizza, now the most popular food in America

Waves of Chinese immigration in the second half of the 1800s added Americanized Asian cuisine. Chinese ex-railway workers opened “chop suey houses,” where diners could find cheap, filling fare. American movies of the depression era are peppered with references to chop suey shops.

But the real push to incorporate new flavors and approaches to foods can be pegged to the 1960’s, when Boomer hippies rejected the meatloaf-and-Jell-o traditions of their parents in favor of exotic cuisines discovered during a global quest for peace, love and brownies flavored with a Middle-Eastern herb known as hash.

Boomers’ jones for the new and undiscovered was conveniently accommodated by new waves of refugee immigration from war-torn and economically distressed countries such as Vietnam, Somalia, Ethiopia … and of course the ever-increasing numbers of immigrants from a country much closer to home — Mexico.

America’s food horizons were further expanded by the introduction of more open trade agreements and more efficient and cost-effective shipping methods in the 80s and 90s. These two factors allowed even mainstream restaurateurs and groceries to stock previously unheard of ingredients — kiwi fruit, guava, sweet tamarind, wasabi, daikon, and lichis, to name a few, as well as additional varieties of already familiar fruits, vegetables and seasonings.

Subsequent generations have embraced the global palate, encouraged by their Boomer parents and an explosion of global information on the Internet. Today, Gen Y (or Millennials, as they’re also termed) boasts a sophisticated palate and an infinite appetite for the new and different.

Given the huge size and increasing earning power of the Millennial generation, restaurants have no choice but to continually introduce different and unexpected flavors. Ten years ago, who’d heard of chai? (Actually, “chai” is just the Indian word for tea; it’s the masala spice that separates it from your English Breakfast “cuppa”.) Today, chai can be found on the menu at McDonald’s.

As a marketing group catering to the restaurant industry, IdeaStudio has seen continuing innovation from our restaurant clients. The most successful have done well not necessarily by overhauling their menus, but instead by updating familiar foods with more strongly flavored ingredients such as aioli, asiago cheese and garam masala, or with those previously considered “upscale,” such as balsamic reductions, prosciutto and Portobello mushrooms.

In a world where cosmopolitan is now commonplace, “the usual” has become “the passé.” Restaurants must remain alert to keep their flavor profiles trend-driven and interesting. As the globe continues to shrink and cuisines continue to overlap and meld, the successful restaurateurs will be those who are first to adopt new flavors and most innovative in finding ways to introduce them to the American palate.