Posted on 10/18/2013 1:23:25 PM PDT by JoeProBono
Tortillas and salsa are now outselling popular American foods like burger and hot dog buns, and ketchup.
Experts say that as the Hispanic population in the U.S. grows, the consumption of Latin American foods, and Mexican foods in particular, continues to increase as well. This is similar to the way that Italian food became integrated into U.S. culture.
“When you think about pizza and spaghetti, it's the same thing,” said Jim Kabbani, CEO of the Tortilla Industry Association. “People consider them American, not ethnic. It's the same with tortillas.”
According to consumer research firm Packaged Facts, Latin American foods and beverages were an $8 billion market in the U.S. last year, and that number could reach $11 billion by 2017. Retail tracking service InfoScan Reviews reported that tortilla chip sales increased at a faster rate (3.7 percent) in supermarkets than potato chips (2.2 percent) this year.
Research suggests that individuals born between the 1980s and the year 2000 have embraced the culinary shift.
“They are looking for products that are not necessarily big brands anymore,” said Michael Bellas, chairman of the Beverage Marketing Corporation. “They like brands that have character. They are looking for authenticity and purity, but they are also looking for new experiences.”
Food from south of the border is considered healthier than some traditional U.S. foods. “When it comes to health, the Mexican cuisines cater better to that with salsas and vegetables,” said Alexandra Aguirre Rodriguez, an assistant professor of marketing at Florida International University.
We have a boat where I go stay a week at a time. I hit the dollar store and buy eggs and bread then the fruit stand and buy avocados. I take bacon, cheese and salsa with me. I can eat for a week.
I think it’s more a matter of people simply liking tortillas (especially of the flour variety) more than bread and salsa more than ketchup, demographics notwithstanding.
Pace Picante.. My favorite!!!
As do the taste buds of all in my house - except when we make our own!
Any Mexican who buys store-bought salsa should have his sombrero confiscated!
I don’t make them every week, but have been making them more often than I used to.
I doubt if I eat one bag per year. You?
Point taken, although the article mentions both.
Of course, we're talking about something quite different when we're talking tortillas as a "meal container."
It's more of a health thing, in that regard.
Millions of women who would never dream of eating a hotdog or a hamburger for lunch every day will eat a "healthy wrap" every day - which is usually salad with a little bit of grilled chicken in a tortilla.
So it's not really "burritos and enchiladas are replacing burgers and hotdogs" - although they are becoming more popular. The whole wrap thing has taken over and the wrap is not a Mexican cultural phenomenon.
When you got 20 million Mexicans in the country who have no desire to become Americans, of course they’re going to buy salsa.
I put them in every stew and soup as well as traditional dishes-and I share with my friends because there are many plants.
Try putting 20 or so mixed green (unripe) and red (ripe) ones in an empty soy sauce shaker bottle along with 3-4 large cloves of garlic you’ve flattened with the side of your fist, fill with your favorite vinegar-close and let sit until everything sinks to the bottom of the bottle-a week or so-then shake over your favorite steamed greens-delicious...
Well, many of us have fine recipes we will share...
Salsa is healthier than catchup, and corn tortillas are healthier than almost all hamburger buns.
These were good burgers:
We eat a lot of home grown hot peppers but not much tortillas or corn chips. Probably because I’m allergic to flour.
MMM, nice closeup. Reminds me of New Mexican Enchiladas:
Tortillas, fried eggs and white cheese stacked like flapjacks in layers as high as you want and then covered in red sauce.
It is just as well I may go for ketchup a few times out of the year.
I put it on spaghetti with sauce and esp. on meatballs more than I do on burgers.
BTW, I bought some hot pepper jam (not sweetened) from a farmer's market.
Seemed weird at first, but very tasty.
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