Food is complex and complicated to understand, yet so simple to appreciate. Food is the cause of history's epic wars and conquests, yet, it is also everyone’s humble need. It is beautiful but can be harsh and critical. It is love and yet poison. There is nothing like food that is both the same and yet very different in every part of the world.
I studied behaviors, stated and latent market needs across the coasts of the US. Grounded in ethnographic research, these findings are based on conversations, surveys and observations. The research certainly brought out difference in cultures but looking within there are threads of commonalities - basic human desires that remain unmet, agnostic of geography.
West Coast
Of all the regions in the world, outside Italy, the West Coast of the US is perhaps the most resonant with the term “Mediterranean”. More than just a likeness in landscape, the people of California revel in a higher level of association in terms of aspirational lifestyle. Being the food valley of the country, where more than 50% of all produce is grown in this state, Californians have the access to a Mediterranean bounty. They also have the wealth. Curiously, though, wealth may indeed be the inhibitor of living a true Med lifestyle.
Food trends begin in California. Myth or reality, people expect a higher purpose for their consumption and are willing to pay premiums for a well-marketed, globally conscious product. Take for example, The Perennial
that operated in San Francisco, till early 2019, that was founded on the lofty goal of battling Climate Change one bread loaf at a time. No questions asked and yet, for three years, a queue patiently waited for a loaf priced over 200% supermarket loaves, not including the cost of time.
At the same time, there is a distinct perception of inequity in food access - within and outside California. 45% of those surveyed responded with a need for access to affordable and healthy food, followed by the needs for encouraging small scale, local production (21%), and, increased consumer education for food. And, Californians shout their affront at it and what to do something about it! Yet, while at the same time, here is where irony plays and perhaps shows the truth behind the mirage.
While Californians do indeed voice concern, solutions are pursued only if there is a hockey stick significance associated with them. Saving the world is great if you can make a billion dollars while at it! Else, well... there are certainly several problems that can be created and solved for a hefty exit package.
“Give us a cause” they say “worthy of making our wealth!”
A short ride away from the bustling tech hub of San Francisco is paradise, a true Mediterranean vista -expansive coast lines and idllic farms doting the countryside. Yet, few can afford it because California is one of the most expensive states in the country. Most who come to San Francisco are in a pursuit of success - whether they work at a startup or a tech giant. Many of these ultra competitive, alpha dominant spaces do indeed provide free food as a “benefit” to employees but with it comes the chains of long hours at work and the “Google 20”; the ubiquitous 20 pounds weight gain in the first year of work at a tech company with an always ON, Free food culture.
Within this competition, yet thrives aspiration. Indeed, many young employees comes with stars in their eyes hoping to be the next Elon Musk or Travis Kalanick or to be discovered by Y combinator infamous Sam Altman. To them these successful founder are the messiahs, and, in their quest of “success”, they emulate their idols, down to their bland plates of grilled chicken and flavorless sides. Why? Because mastery is in self-denial or so speaks the ultra puritan gospel of Silicon Valley founders club.
New Money. Paranoia. World Dominance.
East Coast
In contrast lies the Old World of East Coast. Amidst a positively stark and un-Mediterranean landscape, throbs a deep desire for indulgence, patronage and commensality, that pulses through the veins of the narrowest alleys of New York City. Here, money is sought without ambivalence, without a mask... And, spent open fisted and generously, to live, to love and to enjoy. Long history of dominance of banking, media and advertising industries and their hegemonious lifestyle have sealed their benevolence to food, art and culture. Here unlike the West, everything is in your face without apology.
Mediterranean, here, is a muddled ideology and more a marketing term. East Coasters generally do not care about the terminology. They are more interested in the meat of it. Indeed, the US has always been heady for protein; Meat has been the harbinger of civilization and success. No where else in the world is there a higher density of steakhouses than in New York. And, Italian here resonates with spaghetti with meatballs and Bolognese sauce.
New York has always been associated with the fast and furious in a business context. People are always rushing, always on the move - shifting from home to the office to the client dinner or opera and rushing back home to relieve the nanny and snatch a few words of bedtime stories with their kids... before relaxing for a space with a glass of whiskey. That is what success looks like here. But, every event - major or minor - is marked with food. Food is the pulse of life and central to living - to survival and to luxury.
There are no freebies here and people are willing pay for value. Good food, unpretentious and of quality get high credits. Saving the world, not so much.
Within this old world context and complexities, new life seeks to make impact. Startups are trying to empower not just the elite and the VC friendly 1% but the masses who actually need someone to help them eat better within their constraints - time, money, logistics and knowledge. Think tanks like MIT labs are looking to build awareness and harness technologies that can truly make people’s lives better and help governments to act for the benefit of their constituents.
In the East Coast it is definitely the individual over communal. Yet, in its stark individuality lies an open honesty - to live, to love and to cherish.
While the West seeks to inspire, to win, to conquer - self and the world.
Yet, there are some commonalities. In the US, most young graduates lack the knowledge of the kitchen because they spent their childhood and adolescence boosting their resume to get into college and then their college years, working on projects, eating at the cafeteria and focusing on their resume to get their dream jobs. They land in Boston, New York or San Francisco awed by the opportunity and humbled by the cost of living. Facing long hours at work, shared home spaces and ill equipped kitchens - a combination certain to leave the most enthusiastic cook deflated.
But food is still seen as a way to connect - to families present and left behind, to possible new social circles, to significant others, to humanity. To cook is to put oneself out there, a self expression, to be judged, to be loved, to be appreciated. They choose their food inspirations accordingly - from personal circles, relevant social media and good old Google.
Chefs in this context play the role of entertainers, their lifestyle a sore example of how to live, even amongst their own community, and their ideas far out of reach of the every day cook - far from aspirational, there is a yawning bridge between them and the masses.
Yet, everywhere, people a.k.a. consumers are being TALKED TO - told what they should and should not to - not listened to. Companies, agencies, peers shout, judge, shame, guilt... making the experiences of food traumatic, difficult, confusing - a negative mind space.
Yet, there is hope and OPPORTUNITY - as the bastions of FMCG shift, change and grow and seek customer experience as a core company value; as tech leaders like Amazon and startups like Instacart seek to deliver value to their customer and as people feel more empowered to participate and be heard in a confusing and complex food system without activism but with every day choices.
And, herein lies opportunity -
To connect with people, to allow them to grow in a way that is nurturing.
To collaborate with the doers and dreamers to bring value through the system.
To bring the delight of global experiences through food without the travel.
To solve for the true intrinsic desire of people - a way to feel good about oneself.