But back to the pastas. A U.S. company has Pasta Quistini producing pasta stuffed with Indian flavours and spices as part of a prepared meal kit. Another Canadian company has the pasta manufacturer stuffing tortellini, ravioli and agnolotti “with traditional Indian profile fillings,” says Quistini, “…so we’ve married the two [Italian and Indian] and I was shocked at how absolutely delicious they were…Most people think Indian is all curry, but it’s not. There’s a kaleidoscope of flavours and spices that are so delicious and work well with pasta.”
In recent years new companies have cropped up offering South Asian products and a convenient way to bring those flavours home, including Gourmantra Foods Inc., Maya Indian Gourmet, and more recently Mississauga, Ont.-based Nimkish. Rennie Khanna, Nimkish’s marketing manager, says there was a market for her products – chutneys, spreads, seasonings, an Eastern salsa and a trail mix – because consumers have become “more open and it’s more acceptable to try different kinds of foods. They’re finding that it gives them a different taste and they can add something different to their daily routine.”
Khanna says she was inspired to launch the company along with her sister through the support of her friends and her grown children who wanted Khanna’s recipes but didn’t have time to make them from scratch. As a result the products were created with those consumers in mind. “People who come home and don’t want to eat the same kinds of things or have takeout, who want to come home and add some flavour to their stir-fry, something that gives them a different taste,” she says. Ruderman echoes this thought as well: “The need for convenience is unchanged, but the acceptance of different flavour profiles and textures is much greater than used to be the case.”
This demand for South Asian flavours is also due to the large and growing population of South Asian Canadians across Canada, mostly in the major cities, notes Ruderman, and likely several generations removed from their home countries. They’re often fusing flavours of different South Asian countries or fusing them with traditional North American fare. “They will incorporate the ethnic seasonings and textures from their parents’ regions and mix it up with what we do here,” says Ruderman. “So don’t be surprised if you get cumin and coriander in a hamburger.”
Quistini has noticed the same trend. The South Asian base of consumers has grown tremendously, she says, so you have the second generation buying up these products. It’s not just Canadian consumers, but second generation Iraqi, Iranian, Chinese, Italian, Portuguese – “everybody’s experimenting more. They’re not just eating their traditional foods that they were brought up with. They’re all trying different flavours and enjoying it.”
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