Health, Convenience, Ethnic Dishes And Tradition Ingredients for Success

摘要

Frozen ready meals advance again, after hitting doldrums in 2003. Sales approach three billion euros in Germany, according to Food for Thought. Pasta and American cuisine popular. Convenience, wellness, ethnicity and, interestingly, a return to traditional German dishes are the main trends these days in the German market for ready meals and menu components. After what Rheine-headquartered apetito (Fax: 49-5971-7999350) Sales Manager Martin Thorner called the "thirsty" year of 2003, sales of ready meals, according to the Deutsches Tiefkuhlinstitut (dti), were up a hefty five percent in 2004. Noodle dishes are hugely popular, not surprisingly because they reflect three of the four mentioned trends. They're convenient, healthy and, usually, ethnic. They're convenient because of fast preparation times - usually just a few minutes of zapping in the microwave oven - and because they often come with a disposable bowl that saves on dish washing. They fit in with the wellness trend because ingredients generally contain little or no meat. Though they're not always ethnic (there are German noodles too), they do lean to spaghetti, tortellini, ravioli, lasagne and other dishes with a distinctly Italian accent. And, just for good measure, there are Asian noodle dishes as well.