AVOCADO CARNITAS JALAPẼNO PIZZA

VOICE OF AMERICA REPORTS “THESE ARE Young America’s Favorite New Ethnic Foods,” and they ain’t pizza anymore. 

Dora Mekouar writes in VOA, June 14, 2023, “Millennials, people between the ages of 27 and 42, are the first generation to say they prefer Mexican food to Italian. And Gen Z, those who are 8 to 23 years old, have an even deeper craving for tacos and other Mexican foods, according to a recent report.” 

The report comes from Datassential, a Chicaco-based market research firm. Mike Kostyo, its associate director, says, “I think the most surprising thing was just how passionate Gen Z’s affinity for Mexican cuisine was … and to see that happen in a relatively short amount of time.”

Age-dependent Orderings. Dora Mekouar cites, “Eighty-two percent of all Americans still say they like or love Italian food, according to the Datassential report. But millennials chose Mexican as their favorite ethnic cuisine, followed by Italian and then Chinese. Meanwhile, the 23-and-under crowd pushed Italian down to third place, behind Mexican and Chinese.” 

Hmm… Most definitely at the other extreme of the age spectrum, I find myself culinarily among the 23-and-under crowd, with Chinese and Mexican pretty much a tie and Italian ranking among Middle-eastern, sub-Sahara African, Thai, and interesting pub cuisines.

Comfort Foods. “That was really interesting to see the foods that younger consumers felt were nostalgic and comforting,” Kostyo says. “The two best examples of that were tacos and ramen [Japanese noodle soup].”

My college days were P-R (pre-ramen), and Worcester Poly nostalgia is pretty much focused on Yankee Cooking baked scrod of Boston’s Durgin-Park.

Other foods of personal comfort arose from around-the-world “Family-style Dining.” There were wonderful quirks such as Tokyo tapa bars and neat Kimchi in Georgia.

Treats Nearby. Mekouar says, “Gen Z can easily satisfy their growing taste for Asian food because 12% of all restaurants in the United States serve some kind of Asian food, according to a Pew Research study, which also found that seven out of 10 Asian restaurants in the nation serve Chinese, Japanese or Thai food.” She is advised that Chinese is the most popular, found in every state and in a third or more of all counties.

Trending Online. Kostyo recounts, “We used to say that it took about a dozen years for a trend to move from very early stages, brand-new trend with consumers, all the way to what we call ubiquity, a trend that’s everywhere. And now, it’s about half that… And that’s predominantly because of technology and social media, and just the speed of communication.”

I am walking (and eating) proof of this phenomenon. Not long ago, my favorite local Chinese restaurant closed down (evidently over a tax matter, not a culinary one). Via Yelp, Daughter Suz soon identified Spicy Noodle House, a wonderful alternative. 

Go-to Comfort. Kostyo tells Mekouar, “… if you were opening a classic, everybody-loves-it restaurant … it would have been a pizza operation…. I think in the future, it’s going to be a taco operation. That will be the go-to.”

Once again I’m ahead of the curve. I’m replacing my pineapple ham onion pizza with avocado carnitas jalapeño. ds

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2023