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5. Expanding the horizon

In a globally connected world nothing seems impossible. People travel extensively and discover new cultures and new cuisines. The populations of most towns in Europe are multicultural. Many cities in Africa have considerable customer segments from India, China and Europe. People come with their particular food preferences and like to buy what they know from home. Even those who have not travelled have access to stories and pictures of different foods from around the world. Social media is particularly good at making other things look desirable. Thai and Indian curries, Mexican fajitas, North African tagine, falafel and harissa are no longer strange tastes in European kitchens. The rise of Japanese webtoons and Korean dramas has lead to an increased interest in Asian cooking and eating styles.

With this growing interest speciality shops have popped up in many cities and supermarkets have an increasing number of shelves dedicated to different ethnic cuisines. More and more restaurants also market themselves as dedicated to a particular ethnic cuisine.

Image source: https://nantucketatheneum.org/broadening-your-culinary-horizons-atoz-world-food/