TREND BITES:
New Italian
New Takes on Italian Cuisine for Today's Menus
You've probably heard it by now, but... Italian food is no longer America's favorite foreign cuisine! It had a great run—200 years at the top—but over the past few years, we've moved Mexican food into first place. As American consumers seek newer, bolder, more exciting dishes, the European cuisines that used to be seen as special are now commonplace. This has had two important effects: first, European chefs are busy innovating to show the world that their cuisines have more to offer; and second, we have one of this year's biggest food trends, which Datassential calls "New European." Launching off that trend, Smartbrief did a great summary of New Italian, New Greek, and New French, but in this Trend Bite we're going to dive into what makes "new" Italian cuisine.
Why Mexican Cuisine Overtook Italian
It's safe to assume that Gen Z caused the shift from Italian to Mexican cuisine. Young consumers grew up with tacos, burritos, and quesadillas as comfort foods, while older generations didn't. Datassential's Mike Kostyo, explained, "It's just the changing demographic of the country as a whole and also who we're friends with." The Latino population in the US increased by 23% in the 2010s, plus we have a constant cultural exchange happening on the internet. Whether in person or on social media, we can see and learn about other cultural cuisines like never before, so of course we want to try them!
What is new Italian food?
The "New Italian" trend is all about starting with the base of an Italian food you love, like spaghetti Bolognese or Napoletana pizza, and adding a modern twist. Include an unexpected global ingredient, serve the meal on a new carrier, or make a diet-friendly version of the traditional dish. For a global ingredient, you can't go wrong with tamarind or tamarind sauce, because the African fruit has been topping trend lists for years. To explore new carriers, try fun sandwich breads (bagels, pitas, toasts...). And for diet-friendly Italian-inspired dishes, offer gluten free or keto options so all your guests can enjoy delicious Italian-inspired meals!
Try these New Italian applications!
Flavor Mashups
Bring new life to Italian-style pastas, pizzas, and soups by combining them with other customer favorites. Use current food trends (fried chicken sandwiches, elote, bao) or other popular cuisines (Mexican, Japanese, Middle Eastern) to create exciting food mashups that your customers won't be able to resist. We made a mouthwatering Breaded Chicken Alfredo using a chicken filet that would typically be found in a fried chicken sandwich and a Za'atar Pizza, which combines Middle Eastern flavors with an Italian-style pizza crust. Try our recipes or get creative with your own mashups! We'd love to see more operators serving things like Mexican pizza or Italian burritos.
Italian, to go!
One powerful way to make a meal modern is to make it portable. Everyone is always on the go, and they don't want to settle for missing meals because they're too busy. Give your customers the flavor and satisfaction of a traditional Italian dish, but make it handheld! We used our new Italian-Style Breaded Filets for this flavor-packed Chicken Parmesan Sub recipe. What other portable versions of traditional Italian dishes can you come up with? A carbonara bowl? Maybe a slice of baked ziti pizza?
Other Italian-Inspired Ideas from our Recipe Library
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