Americans expand Latin American flavor exploration

Latin food trends are beginning to expand into geographies that have only featured marginally in the United States in the past, with Venezuelan, Colombian and Peruvian flavors coming to the fore, according to Joe Scott at Symrise.

At the Research Chefs Association conference and expo, Scott told FoodNavigator-USA that consumers are beginning to branch out from the Latin American flavors with which they are most familiar, such as Mexican food, to embrace parts of the Latin culinary world that they have not explored before.

But he added that while consumers are increasingly interested in more unusual Latin American tastes, they are also looking to more familiar tropical flavors, such as guava or coconut, as a kind of culinary escapism.