By Wendy Chan
Who would have thought that people would gather anxiously to hear seemingly trivial details about sesame oil, chili sauce, nouc mam, oyster sauce, Mirin, shrimp sauce, curry, hoisin and sirrachi sauce?
That was what happened at the Asia Society in New York in June 2. The Museum auditorium was once again transformed into a forum for cultural exchange of the best kind – the discussion of and about food, with tasting too.
This program on Asian Sauces, part of the on-going Asian Food Series our company, Savory Productions co-presents with Saveur Magazine, in partnership with Asia Society, is one that focused directly at the one single item that started the acceleration of Asian cuisine acceptance in America – Soy Sauce. Asians roll their eyes when they see westerners’ abuse this revered seasoning that holds the essence of “umami” taste, such as saturating their bowl of white rice and suffocating their sashimi.
The esteemed panel included Professor John Nihoff from The Culinary Institute of America, an expert about Asian cooking particularly Korean; Susanna Foo, the grand dame of Chinese cooking and owns Susanna Foo in Philadelphia and the newly opened Suilan in Atlantic City’s Borgata Hotel; Raghavan Iyer, distinguished chef and prolific cookbook author, and Whiting Wu, president of Summit Import, and the undisputed giant (his stature, let me clarify) in the Asian food importing and distribution business.
Soy sauce splashed its way to the US just some three decades ago, and quickly became the symbol of Asian food, like the ubiquitous takeout box. But with more people interested in enjoying or entertaining with chicken satay and beef rendang, bibimap, and kung pao chicken, the proliferation of Asian sauces, pastes and seasonings has escalated to new heights. Now, ready-to-pour, ready-to-cook, -to-dip, –to-marinate, to-stir-fry, or to-toss and mix sauces of every imaginable taste and flavor can be found, promising fancy tasty food in 30 (minutes) flat. They are ready when you are.
The Millennials, Gen Y and the Gen X generations have eaten an incredible number of meals composed of Pho and Bulgogi, studying in or visiting far-flung places like Cambodia, Seoul, Vietnam and Singapore. While they have acquired the taste of these sumptuous international foods, majority of these world-wise text-messaging, time-compressed, “Top Chef”-watching bunch have no patience to shop in the Asian supermarkets, plus they seem to have an inherent suspicion about labels they can’t read, or relate to.
Some enterprising companies have correctly identified the growth potential of this segment, introduce natural sauce and paste products with look, taste and application that appeal to this market, emphasizing what is NOT in the jar – like MSG and artificial coloring, and are even celebrating gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free. Well, Whole Foods markets have made room for WORLDFOODS products, thankfully!
