What you need to know
The impact of immigration will undoubtedly continue to affect Canadians’ demand for and usage of ethnic foods. At 57%, over half of Canadians agree that they are more open to eating ethnic-inspired foods compared to a few years ago. This suggests that a focus on providing options that allow consumers to explore other flavours and cultures through food does not need to be directed at only Canadians originally from other countries, but extends to the overall population. While Chinese, Italian and Latin American foods are the mainstay international foods for most Canadians, opportunity to develop options from Africa and Southeast Asia (eg Philippines) seems apparent based on low levels of trial, but high levels of interest.
Definition
For the purposes of this report, Mintel has used the following definitions:
Ethnic-inspired foods include (but are not excluded to) the following:
Chinese
Italian
Latin American /Mexican
Greek
Thai
Eastern European /Russian
Caribbean
Indian / South Asian
Middle Eastern
Japanese
Southeast Asian
Korean
African
