FEATURE-U.S. kitchen icon Betty Crocker goes international
By Susan Heavey
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When Gourmet magazine’s Kemp Minisfe signed up for a seminar on Indian cooking at an international culinary professionals conference this spring, she was ready to steep herself in chef Raghavan Iyer’s authentic, traditional recipes from his new book.
What she didn’t expect to find was that Betty Crocker – the company whose fictitious ``first lady of food’’ is best known for red sweaters, coiffed hair and American traditional cooking – had published it.
I can't tell you how amazed I was that Betty Crocker had published a book on Indian cooking,'' Minisfe, senior food editor for the magazine, said. I wasn’t aware that they did a lot of ethnic food.‘’
But Betty Crocker, like America itself, is changing. Americans have long taken dishes introduced by immigrants and incorporated them into everyday items. Foods like spaghetti, burritos and stir-fry have been adopted as everyday staples.
Chinese food now is as run-of-the-mill as pizza,'' said Tonya Steel, senior editor for Bon Appetit magazine, which is devoting its September issue to ethnic cuisine, including Indian. I think American palates have become much more adventuresome.‘’
Hungry Minds, which publishes the Betty Crocker books, accepted Iyer’s book proposal for Indian food after an internal survey showed a growing American interest in the diverse and often spicy cuisine known for its use of lentils, coconuts, chutney and curries.
``We knew it wasn’t mainstream … but we decided to extend ourselves a little,‘’ Hungry Minds Publisher Jennifer Feldman said.
Iyer, a Bombay native, said, ``I was thrilled, obviously, because my goal was to make Indian cooking a staple in the American home, and nervous because Betty Crocker was taking me to a whole other level.‘’
SOME LIKE IT HOT
Betty Crocker was created by General Mills (NYSE:GIS - news) in 1921 to provide cooking information to the American housewife. Since then, under the Better Crocker label more than 40 cookbooks on everything from low-fat foods recipes to chicken recipes have been published.
But it is ``Betty Crocker’s Cookbook,‘’ a thick red volume first published in 1950, that continues to be one of the company’s most popular titles, holding more than 1,000 recipes for largely traditional American foods.
The company began recognizing, however, that ``traditional’’ American food was changing along with the population. In 1990, the company published a book on Chinese food, followed by one on Mexican cooking in 1995 and Italian cuisine last year.
But the release of ``Betty Crocker’s Indian Home Cooking’’ (Hungry Minds, May 2001) makes a far leap into an exotic food.
According to Steel, Americans are tired of traditional fast foods and homemade standbys like pasta or chicken and they are ready for something to spice up their meals.
``American palates have really become much more adventuresome,‘’ she said.
But Indian isn’t the only cuisine taking hold across the country as people experiment with more flavorful foods, including Thai, Vietnamese and Malaysian, both at home and in restaurants.
I think people are going to start incorporating and trying spices,'' Minisfe said. People are looking for something to jazz up their meals.‘’
With the advent of the Internet, food specialty stores and catalogs, Iyer argues that cooking with ethic flavors at home anywhere in the United States has never been easier. In his book, he points to such Web sites as Kalustyan’s (www.kalustyans.com) and Ethnic Grocer (www.ethnicgrocer.com) as possible sources.
Even U.S.-based McCormick (NYSE:MKC - news), the world’s largest spice company, is introducing a new line of international seasonings this fall. The line includes unusual spices like Japanese wasabi and lemon grass plus two common blends used in Indian dishes: garam masaala (a mixture of cumin, caradmom and cloves) and red curry seasoning (a Chile pepper and coriander blend).
``There really is no excuse not to do Indian cooking anymore,‘’ he said.
So when he ran into a member of General Mills’s publication team he couldn’t help seeing if the food giant felt the same way.
"I said, out of the blue, ‘Is Betty Crocker ready for Indian cooking?’ and she said ‘Send us the proposal.’
THE NEW CHINESE
In 1999, according to Immigration and Naturalization Service data, the third largest group of immigrants to the United States were Indian. Betty Crocker responded.
One of the main triggers of this new fascination with Indian food is an increase in travel to the region, suggest Steel and other food experts. As more Americans travel abroad to India or just to international cities such as London, where Indian food in particular is a common find, they are being introduced to foods they might not necessarily try at home.
``India has become very cool in the past couple of years,‘’ Steel said.
Health concerns are also fueling the interest. Americans, concerned about being overweight and the various diseases that can cause, are continually searching for ways to eat healthier.
As vegetarianism grows, and as interest in reducing meat in the diet grows, people will go toward Indian food,'' Minisfe said. It’s a way to make non-meat food interesting.‘’
For that, Iyer points to the cuisine’s heavy use of legumes as major protein source, noting that Indian food includes more than 60 different kinds of lentils, peas and beans.
The combination of health and taste with Betty Crocker’s seal of approval is something Iyer hopes will help propel his book into American kitchens and make Indian food as popular as its Chinese cousin and as common in U.S. homes as Italian or Mexican.
Still, for those still unsure of trying new foods, he says he is counting on the Betty Crocker name to convince them that it’s a safe choice.
``It’s popular in people’s minds and brings them a certain comfort level. It has softened the appeal of Indian food,‘’ he said.
``My goal is to make this book a classic.‘’