Would you try curry sauce with chocolate – or how about bananas?
A new piece of research has shown British consumers’ most bizarre food combinations – including butter and sugar sandwiches, and apple and bacon together on toast.
The study – commissioned by a tourist attraction in London – sheds light on the UK’s increasingly unusual and, the researchers claimed, adventurous food tastes. We did a quick and entirely unscientific survey of the FoodBev team, and unearthed some suggestions strange enough to rival the official findings.
Our awards executive, Bahar, argued that her choice of plums with red meat was no different to the Swedish staple of meatballs and lingonberry jam; but digital features editor Darren Wood’s offering of milk chocolate pieces dipped in curry sauce is entirely indefensible!
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*These people are opting for the “I was a child” defence.
But, aside from the novel attraction to this story, could there not be an underlining question to food and drink manufacturers? Is British people’s willingness to embrace strange and quirky flavour combinations an opportunity for all companies to co-brand and innovate?
We’re all familiar with product developments from Guinness as quirky as HP sauce, Guinness-flavoured crisps and nuts, and even seafood battered in the Irish brewer’s famous stout.
Brands can use accepted flavour pairings to reaffirm certain occasions and combinations in the minds of consumers – as Branston and Pilgrim’s Choice did when they announced a strategic brand partnership earlier this month.
And then there’s Marmite.
Unilever’s release of a Marmite-themed Easter egg in 2014, alongside a Pot Noodle equivalent, is testament to the ability of bizarre flavour pairings to create a buzz around a certain brand. Last month, Hornall Anderson executive creative director Alastair Whiteley wrote that the development of a Marmite and Guinness spread around a decade ago was the wake-up call that both brands needed.
“The idea of the Two Dark Lords, Guinness and Marmite, seemed an obvious synergy,” Whiteley said. “Both were black, strong-flavoured, incredibly distinctive and badly undervalued by a forgetful public. Most importantly, from a marketing perspective, there was a great story to tell.”
This marked the first step towards performing a dramatic resurrection of the Marmite brand.
Whiteley continued: “How we achieved this turnaround for Unilever – and gave other atrophying brands a similar sort of workout – is well worth considering, because any corporation that doesn’t offer the public the opportunity to reconnect with a once-loved brand is wasting valuable equity.”
Short of Tropicana teaming up with Arla, or Cadbury going into business with Patak’s, it will be interesting to see how brands respond to the interest in more adventurous food.
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024