Specialty Food Boom In US Augurs Well For Malaysia's Food Exports

From Manik Mehta NEW YORK, April 11 (Bernama) -- The boom in specialty food market in the United States which hit US$127 billion in sales last year, augurs well for Malaysia’s food exports. In 2015, Malaysia's exports of processed food products to the US jumped six per cent to US$184.01 million (RM816.4 million) compared with US$173.7 million (RM770.5 million) in 2014, said the the US-based Specialty Food Association (SFA). McCormick, a leading US spice company which markets all kinds of spices from Asia, Latin America and other parts of the world, has forecast that the American consumer would go for spicy foods such as "sambal", "rendang", "haldi" (turmeric) and "srirachan" flavoured dishes. In its annual Flavor Forecast Report for 2016, McCormick said that Asian foods and spices were projected to figure in the list of favourite foods, and Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia were leading the pack as "sambal" suppliers. Sambal is a spicy Southeast Asian condiment made, in its simplest form, from chile peppers and salt. With their taste buds craving for exotic food varieties, American consumers are discovering the pleasures of the Asian culinary diversity. SFA President Phil Kafarakis said consumer preferences for specialty food products were growing by double-digits, outpacing mainstream food staples. "The products our members create appeal to consumers looking for authentic tastes and foods with fewer and cleaner ingredients," he said. Meanwhile, an enterprising New York-based young Malaysian chef, Auria Abraham, is gradually moving into the mainstream US market with her small food company called Malaysian Kitchen, offering sambal and kaya, among others. Abraham said Americans were open to trying foreign cuisines compared with any other nation, and most were familiar with Asia's culinary diversity. "Malaysia and ASEAN will have to do some savvy marketing to establish themselves in this lucrative food market," she said. Meanwhile, Malaysian Trade Commissioner in New York Muhd Shahrulmiza Zakaria said Malaysian food was gaining popularity in the American market. "We can see this happening based on the response received from buyers and consumers who come to our food-promotion campaigns conducted by the Malaysia Kitchen USA programme," he said. Shahrulmiza noted that Malaysian cuisine were listed among the top five trending flavours in the US for two consecutive years, based on a survey done by the National Restaurant Association, the largest US restaurant and food service trade association. --BERNAMA