World of flavor: ethnic taste preferences and wine

Taste is relative--fuzzy dice from the car mirror, shabby chic decor, Prada shoes. But taste in connection to flavor, well, that's another thing. Flavor is a combination of both taste and smell. And as anyone who has visited a Mexican mercado or Indian bazaar can tell you, each culture has its own set of tastes and smells reflecting its food preferences and choices. But as research demonstrates, some taste preferences are genetic, environmental or both.

In large cities across the United States, ethnic groups have influenced the landscape and neighborhoods. That immigrant acculturation is now seen across America in supermarkets, local businesses and restaurants--both mom-and-pop and five-star establishments. And through this change, nonethnic consumers are discovering a world of flavor. But this concept really isn't new, rather, it's history repeating itself. As more U.S. food companies prepare for the demographic shift of ethnic population and savvy, well-traveled diners demand flavor, many food companies are developing new products to appeal to these population changes. How can these taste preferences be a learning tool for the wine industry, particularly with the discussions of ethnic marketing and the acculturation of American lifestyle?

In The Genes

To our ancestors, the sense of taste was used for survival. Sweet foods had high caloric value and provided energy. Bitterness was the radar that a food might be unsafe to eat, poisonous and fatal. Modern science proves genetics are also involved when determining taste. Dr. Linda Bartoshuk, a taste researcher at Yale University, discovered that beyond the previously believed groups of tasters and nontasters, lives a group of "supertasters." These individuals, born with more taste buds, have highly inherent reactions to bitter and sweet tastes. About 25% of the U.S. population are supertasters (50% are regular tasters and 25% are nontasters). Bartoshuk states, "A lot of older literature suggests there is a race effect in regards to taste perception. Asians are more likely to be supertasters than Caucasians. It's an area that needs to be explored."

Just as the ability to taste the bitter compound phenylthiourea (PTC) is inherited, anosmia--the inability of a person with otherwise normal olfactory abilities to detect a specific odor--is thought to be genetically based in some cases. Racial and cross-cultural differences have been reported for isovaleric acid (1.4% of Caucasians and 9.1% of African-Americans cannot smell it). Some 7.2% of Caucasians cannot smell the musk pentadecalactone, in contrast to all blacks, who can detect it. Further research on genetics, race and taste is still being developed for scientific and commercial purposes.

One company, International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc. (IFF), Dayton, N.J., believes that genetic differences in flavor perception have commercial application. "Our internal research and sensory literature indicate that specific consumer segments perceive the world of food in different ways," explains Carol Christensen, IFF's vice president and director of sensory research. "We believe that understanding the sensory segmentation of the population will provide a powerful tool for guiding the creation of flavors that have the widest consumer appeal." In the meantime, companies are using cultural taste preferences to win over global tastebuds.

The McCuban Sandwich: Food Acculturation

Food history and preparations in various ethnic cultures are another way to understand flavor preferences. Though the study of food history involves politics, geography, religion and biology, among other social sciences, a brief, general overview of Mexican and African-American food culture helps to explain the basic influences in cultural taste preferences. Documents from early Spanish expeditions in Mexico record the enormous variety of foods enjoyed by the Aztec nobility. More than 1,000 dishes are described, and Montezuma II reportedly ate up to 30 different foods at a meal. The staple foods were corn, legumes, small game, chilies, tomatoes, squash and chocolatl, the hot, unsweetened chocolate drink made from native cocao beans. The Aztec diet was altered by the Spanish Armada with the introduction of cinnamon, garlic, onions, rice, sugar cane, wheat and, most importantly, hogs and cattle, which added a reliable source of fat and oil, previously a deficiency. As a result, food preparation shifted from boiling and grilling to the incorporation of frying. The 1862 invasion by Britain, France and Spain also influenced Mexican food culture by introducing French, and particularly Viennese, flavors and techniques, due to the short reign of Emperor Maximilian over Mexico.

African-American cuisine is a mix of West African foods of the 17th and 18th centuries and of the American southern states. These foods offer a unique glimpse into the way a cuisine develops. Even before the arrival of West Africans to the U.S., their food preferences had changed significantly by the introduction of New World foods, such as cassava (a tuber also called manioc), chilies, peanuts, pumpkins and tomatoes, during the 15th and 16th centuries. The slaves brought a cuisine based on these new foods and native West African specialties, such as melons, black-eyed peas, okra, sesame and taro. Cooks added their West African preparation methods to British, French, Spanish and Native American techniques to produce American Southern cuisine, emphasizing fried, boiled and roasted dishes using pork, pork fat, corn, sweet potatoes and local leafy green vegetables. The cuisine is "comfort food" (think meatloaf, fried chicken and corn bread), which became even more important to the American palate and psyche after 9/11.

History has taught us that each region of the world can claim its indigenous foods and adaptation of introduced items. Today travel, media and the Internet influence a demand for flavors from both primary and secondary cultures. Acculturation is the process by which one group adopts the cultural patterns of a dominant group. Not only is acculturation evident in beliefs, language and religion, but as history has shown, food as well. It is evident that the rapid and exponential demographic changes in the U.S. are the catalyst for the acculturation in American taste preferences and vice versa.

In a 1999 study published by the American Dietetic Association, researchers tracked the eating habits of Asian students before and after immigration to the U.S. Results indicated that these students consumed fewer meals, mostly skipping breakfast; more sweet- and salty-flavored snack items; and ate American-style meals (e.g. fast food). But 71% indicated they continue to prepare traditional Chinese dishes for special holidays and incorporate both Chinese and American-style food for U.S. holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hence the repeated history of the acculturation of food.

Expo Comida Latina, the largest U.S. Hispanic food and beverage tradeshow and conference held in Los Angeles during November each year, is a modern exploration of food acculturation within the context of Latin flavors (soy tamales, anyone?) Companies from all over the world peddle their Latin-infused products to supermarket buyers targeting Hispanic consumers and non-Hispanics alike.

Walk down to your local market and many products may have already made their way onto your supermarket shelves or to local restaurants--chipotle mayonnaise (excuse me, "aioli"), chile and lime seasoned Cup Noodles and did I mention the soy tamales? According to the National Restaurant Association, the number of Mexican and Chinese restaurants in the U.S. grew by 26% in the 1990s. I imagine buyers at the All Asia Food Expo, to be held October, 2004 in New York, will have similar goals--to attract ethnic consumers yearning for nostalgic flavors from home, and to feed the demand of nonethnic consumers looking for new flavors in their cuisine.

More than ever, seasoning suppliers are showing great varieties in Hispanic, Asian and Pacific Rim flavors, which once were considered niche. Many of these flavors now are so mainstream themselves that developers are creating more region-specific types. "We have several ethnic flavors in our retail line of products, including Chile Lime, Teriyaki, Cajun and Albuquerque Mesquite, to name a few," states Lisa Kalla, product development specialist for Gold n'Plump Poultry.

McDonald's Corporation has been a longtime marketer of regional taste preferences, from selling beer at its selected European locations to Indian nan-style wraps in London. But in the U.S., the concept is taking shape in the form of jalapenos with your Big Mac in California and the Taste of Florida menu, which includes a Cuban Sandwich layered with ham, pork, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard on toasted Cuban bread. Menu mainstay Chicken McNuggets get a special sauce--mango and pineapple--and can be washed down with a dulce de leche-flavored McFlurry.

"What drives marketers is size," says Harry Balzer, VP food research at NPD Group. "It's really not the size of the ethnic group, but how does that translate to the behavior of a larger group?" For food marketers--the beauty of acculturation.

Ethnic Wine

Food marketers recognize the influence of ethnic taste preferences, genetic and environmental. And they are continuing to adapt food products to appeal to those demanding consumers. What can the wine industry learn from their product development? With consumer tastes in mind, many wineries produce an array of wines to appeal to their consumer market base. These can be either in the form of varietals--Merlot, Syrah, White Zinfandel--or they are determined by the flavor blend, hence the production of oaky, buttery Chardonnays and high-alcohol Zinfandels.

Is the next step for the U.S. wine industry to market wine preferences by ethnic flavors, thus expanding consumer base to ethnic and nonethnic consumers alike? Using wine descriptors that relate to the target consumer is a way to help specific groups understand the flavor components of wine. Such wine experts as Tim Hanni, M.W., at WineQuest, are already utilizing the principles of flavor. His Progressive Wine Lists, used by restaurants worldwide, group wines by their primary flavor characteristics (e.g. dry, full intensity for a Cabernet), not just grape variety or wine origin.

This method allows the retail/restaurant representative to communicate wine in terms familiar to the consumer, creating a comfort and confidence level that results in more wine purchases. But as the face of the nation changes, flavor descriptions may also have to change. For example, Americans had to adopt the Japanese word "umami" to describe the sensory experience made by MSG and nucleotides. And there is no equivalent word for the Korean term "kusu," which is an important sensory characteristic in noodle preference. Cultural food experiences are influencing the nation's palate, and many within those cultures are new to wine. By understanding ethnic flavor preferences (and those of nonethnics seeking bolder tastes), wine marketers can use a cultural vocabulary method to describe wine or pinpoint key flavor elements that are an affinity to a target group (e.g. citrus and tropical flavors for Latino consumers). The result is a new ethnic consumer associating wine with familiar flavors and food experiences.

As more academic research is conducted on racial taste preferences, the opportunity to learn from food development companies provides an alternative perspective on the future wine consumer. Food manufacturers are taking the lead in responding to consumer taste preferences (whether by genetics, environment or acculturation) and are positioning themselves to serve the future ethnic flavor-demanding consumer. This in effect will change how wine is produced and marketed. As more wineries understand ethnic-influenced taste preferences, companies will produce products and marketing programs that communicate the wine experience to those consumers. They will also create wines that are palatable and taste-friendly to those target niches and, ultimately, demonstrate to the ethnic-influenced consumer that wine companies understand this new generation of wine-buyer.

(Sandra Gonzalez publishes vinoconvida.com, a Web site dedicated to food, chefs, wine, restaurants and the arts celebrating Latin flavor. She also writes wine columns in English and Spanish for several Hispanic publications, including El Restaurante Mexicano, a publication for the Latin-cuisine restaurant trade. She may be contacted through edit@winesandvines.com.)

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