From The Winter 2005 Issue of Natural Grocery Buyer

Authentic Asian Is the Real Deal

Lisa Everitt

Fortune cookies are not authentic Asian food. Neither is sushi made from canned albacore tuna, sesame noodles in a Jif peanut butter sauce, or egg foo anything. But you’d never know it by looking at the Asian set of many supermarkets or supposedly “Oriental” recipes published in mainstream cookbooks.

Authentic Asian flavors are popping up beyond such coastal cities as San Francisco and New York City. The improbably named Yummy Yummy Tasty Thai serves som tom—a tossed salad of green papaya, garlic, grape tomatoes, green onions, dried shrimp and lime juice—in a converted motel restaurant along a dreary stretch of U.S. 40 in Aurora, Colo.

At the new Restaurant August in New Orleans, chef John Besh has spiced up the typical butter, cream and crawdads of Tchoupitoulas Street with such dishes as tempura of buster crabs with Thai chile and ginger. Way up north in Bangor, Maine, diners can try Indian, Pakistani, Thai, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese restaurants within a one-mile radius of downtown.

What’s driving the trend? More American cooks have become fans of the various cuisines by eating at ethnic restaurants and traveling abroad. Immigration from East to West has made both restaurant meals and cooking ingredients more widely available. Also boosting popularity is a broad perception that Asian cuisines, with their emphasis on seafood, fresh vegetables and light sauces, is healthier than many other choices.

Western cooks have learned that they can have all kinds of fun inserting Asian ingredients and flavors into non-Asian dishes and vice versa, says Eric Gower, author of The Breakthrough Japanese Kitchen (Kodansha, 2003).

Gower, a Californian who lived in Japan for 15 years, found that Japanese markets are full of wonderful ingredients, but many home cooks are uncomfortable with using them in any way beyond the traditional ones.

As an American, he felt no such strictures. “I think Americans tend to delight in breaking the rules. They take to this experimenting with greater ease. But they don’t have the historical weight of a lifetime of eating Japanese food.”

Emerging Asian Tastes • Green tea • Black rice • Bubble (or boba) tea—with tapioca “pearls” • Pomelo and yuzu • Kaffir lime Mainstream Asian Tastes • Miso • Green tea • Tofu • Wasabi • Sake Source: Culinary Trend Mapping Report, Center for Culinary Development/Packaged Facts Inc.

Gower’s first cookbook, Eric’s Kitchen, was written in Japanese for those brave enough to shrug off that historical weight. In Breakthrough, written for a North American audience, Gower nods to Japan’s strict culinary conventions, then blows them wide open with fresh herbs, organic produce and such multicultural dishes as a frittata with umeboshi (pickled plums).

His creations include a version of pesto with ground dried shiitake mushrooms and roasted almonds; smoked salmon tossed with edamame (cooked shelled soybeans), olive oil, bing cherries and shiso leaves; and mashed ginger sweet potatoes.

Even basic steamed white rice gets cooked in carrot juice and seasoned with bay leaves and Dijon mustard.

“It tends to freak Japanese people out until they’ve tried it,” he says.

How does a supermarket grocer tap into the authentic Asian trend? Three ways:

• Provide the ingredients people are looking for to make either full-fledged traditional dishes or innovative fusion dishes. If your Asian assortment is loaded with cans of water chestnuts and jars of shiny red sauce, it’s time for a reset and some new vendors.
• Know the demographics of your store area and make sure that your merchandise assortment meets your shoppers’ everyday needs. This will require an understanding of who your neighbors are and what they eat that goes beyond stereotypical displays of soy sauce. Engage community groups, local ethnic restaurateurs and shoppers to find out whether you should be stocking coconut milk for Thai curry or yogurt for Indian curry, basmati rice or sticky rice, beef or lamb.
• Encourage the adventurous cooks among your customer base to try something new. Merchandise unfamiliar products with familiar ones and provide culinary demonstrations, grab-and-go dishes, classes, recipe handouts and sampling.