South American food offers golden opportunities
“A food trend that is slowly but surely making its way over the Atlantic to us is South American, and specifically Brazilian and Peruvian,” Stefan Cosser, innovator at Food Innovation Solutions (FIS), told FoodManufacture.co.uk.
“Consumers have come to expect fresh and exciting new flavours and South American has all that to offer,” said Cosser, who was formerly senior development chef at Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant The Fat Duck before joining FIS in June.
He highlighted as examples foods such as quinoa; tomatillos; purple corn; aromatic chillies and tiger’s milk, a citrus-based marinade, which he said was “delicious” when served in a shotglass.
He drew attention to the fact that the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Olympics, both hosted by Brazil, would fuel demand for South American cuisine even further.
Restaurants had begun to spring up
And he said restaurants had begun to spring up in London playing up South American cuisine, such as Ceviche and Lima, the latter having received a Michelin star for its Peruvian dishes.
He pointed out that there were now four South American restaurants in the San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, compared with 2005 when there were none.
Chef Alex Atala’s Brazil-based restaurant DOM first appeared on that list in 2006 at number 50, but had since risen to sixth position, said Cosser.
Atala featured Amazonian ants that reportedly tasted like lemongrass at the 2011 MAD Symposium in Copenhagen, he said.
Grasshoppers and crickets
Noma, based in Copenhagen and currently ranking second on the San Pellegrino list, put ants on its menu in 2012 and has since experimented with grasshoppers and crickets.
“Now I don’t think eating insects will become the norm in the UK any time soon,” said Cosser. “But I think this goes to show the influence South American chefs and ingredients can have on us in Europe.”
Online shops such as www.mexgrocer.co.uk and the UK’s first online Peruvian food shop, http://vivaperu.co.uk, were importing new and exciting flavours, including aji amarillo paste, a yellow chilli paste with fruity notes, he said.
“With consumers wanting more authentic flavour experiences, manufacturers need to explore further what South America has to offer. Chillies are used for their aromatic notes, not only for the heat and with dozens of types of chillies out there, fresh, dried and smoked, it’s time to start exploring.”
