Synergy builds on appetite for street foods

19-Jun-2012 - Last updated on 21-Jun-2012 at 16:07 GMT

The popularity of wasabi peas is just one example of the growing appetite for street food flavours

Global flavours house Synergy is launching street food inspired natural seasoning blends for snack foods, building on growing demand for such flavours from the food industry and consumers.

The company claims to have identified gaps in the UK snacks market and has drawn on inspiration from popular cuisines such as Spanish and South East Asian foods to create the range. It says it would be suitable for products ranging from crisps and nuts to popcorn.

Marketing manager Wayne Gower told FoodNavigator he expected particular growth in Vietnamese, Indonesian and Moroccan dishes among others and Synergy's new products would reflect this.

Referring to what lay behind the appetite for street food, Gower said: "It's helped by the economic uncertainty. Instead of restaurants, people are looking to trade down from eating out. Other elements include the continuation of travelling. People want to recreate [their food] experiences back at home." The 2012 Olympics would further fuel appetite for street foods from around the world, he added.

Massive growth in wasabi peas

In the UK, for example, Gower said the trend had started in London, but was now spiralling out into towns such as Coventry, Birmingham and Manchester. He pointed to ranges such as Walkers Crisps' sweet chilli Walkers Sensations flavour as one example of how the street food craze was being applied by manufacturers of crisps and snacks. Marks and Spencer was also seeing massive growth in its wasabi peas, reflecting strong demand for wasabi flavour products, he added.

For the seasonings, Synergy would draw on natural ingredients that mimicked the cuisines they were reflecting as much as possible, such as coconut, yoghurt and mint for an Indian raita seasoning and lemon grass and coconut for a red Thai seasoning. Other new lines from Synergy included a Spanish patatas bravas-based seasoning, an authentic onion bhaji seasoning and a Mexican beef burrito-based seasoning.

Synergy said manufacturers could add to the seasoning blends with other solutions such as its Saporesse Plus range of natural lactic yeast, which could help them cut salt, intensify flavours and improve mouthfeel.