How We Consume New Products: The Example of Exotic Foods (1930–2000)
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the German colonial expansion was much more limited in space and time, which can explain the smaller representation of distant exoticisms in Germany. The decolonization, and more particularly, the wars of decolonization, also had an influence in the taste for exotic products in France; the disappearance of Algerian food in France takes place at the time of the war in Algeria, and the time of the war in Indochina coincides with a very low number of Asian recipes. In time of war, foreign foods are not attractive anymore, which proves that an unknown product is consumed only if it is perceived in a positive way, which is not the case when it is the food of one’s enemy.
II.D. Immigration streams and prestige Colonization also was at the origin of migratory flows. Some may be at the origin of the taste for foreign products. The interest in Asian foods can be explained to a greater degree by migratory streams, especially with the arrival of refugees from Vietnam in the 1970s. The economic activity of the Asian community is characterized by the importance of the alimentary sector. The restaurant sector is the most visible and well-known part of Asian commerce. Furthermore, Asian groceries and restaurants are ‘exotic’: before the 1970s these restaurants were devoted to French customers searching for typical Asian dishes and thus constituted an important factor in the discovery of Asian food. These restaurants were open to families and middle-class customers, which favored the discovery of Asian food practices (Ma Mung and Simon, 1990). However, the relationship between immigration and culinary exoticism is usually difficult to establish. For example, North Africans are the biggest foreign community in France, whereas North African recipes account for only 3.4% of the total number published in French magazines, a fact related to various factors. First of all, North Africans in France have proximity food stores but they do not sell exotic products (except for stores selling ‘harissa’ or ‘halal’ meat, specifically for Muslim consumers). In addition, this weak correlation between demographic importance of an immigrant population and culinary exoticism is related to the ambivalent status of the immigrant. Immigrants are generally in marginal economic activities; they face more unemployment, unstable job conditions, and less income. Such images of the poor worker are without prestige and do not correspond with the taste for foreign food. Moreover, in situations of migration, proximity with immigrants is strong and the dream of exoticism can no longer be developed. In order to consume foreign foods, it is necessary that foreigners remain slightly distant and mysterious: when foreigners are too close, the differences are exacerbated and perceived negatively.