By IPS Correspondents
SYDNEY, Jan 23 1996 (IPS)

Once known here only as very hot food with lots of chillies and curry powder, Indian cuisine has become the latest food fad among middle-class Australians who have developed a taste for the exotic flavours and aromas.

Indian food products used to be available only through special shops. Today big supermarket chains like Woolworths and Franklins have set aside special shelves to stock Indian curry powders, ground spices, chutneys, pickles and masala mixes, among others.

The supermarket chains sell some 12.3 million dollars’ worth of Indian food items, and the figure is growing at 22 per cent annually, according to Mauri Foods, distributor of the Patak label in Australia. In just two years, Australia has become the second biggest overseas market for Indian food after Britain.

Peter Roe, manager for Indian cuisine at Mauri Foods, says they have 57 percent of the market share for Indian food products in Australia. Patak products come from Britain rather than directly from India.

The other major distributor of Indian food stuffs here is Socomin International which distributes Sharwood products from another British-based manufacturer of Indian grocery products.

Industry sources say Australian sales of Indian food products mirror the growth in Britain where it has become the fastest growing grocery item, accounting for nearly half of the total ethnic food market.

“When I first opened an Indian restaurant here people who came to eat were those who had migrated from England,” recalls Amar Gujral, an Indian cuisine and catering consultant who opened one of Sydney’s first Indian restaurants in 1973.

“The response at that time to Indian food was very negative,” he says. “The only notion (Australians) had of Indian food was that it was a damn hot thing. Their hair fell in front of their faces when we talked about Indian food.”

Roe agrees many Australians had the impression that all Indian curries are very hot and burning. “We had to do a lot of educational work and spent a lot of money on advertising.” His company spent 3.8 million dollars on advertising and promotional campaigns over the past three years.

Through a comprehensive promotional campaign launched by his company, “(Australians) were able to taste (Indian food) and find out that not all Indian dishes are hot with a lot of chillies,” said Roe. Many Indian dishes, especially those from the country’s north, are only lightly spiced and have thick creamy sauces.

Gujral says the growing number of Australians taking their annual holidays in Asian countries and Fiji has also helped popularise Indian food here.

He notes that Indian food has become a middle-class yuppie fad in the country, with Indian restaurants mushrooming in well-to-do suburbs.

“This yuppie trend began in the 1980s. Youngsters who now go to places like Singapore, Malaysia and Fiji get exposed to this food. When they come back to Australia, they go in search of (Indian food),” he says, adding that Thai food has also experienced a similar surge in popularity.

Gujral recalls that many of the first Indian restaurants in Sydney used to offer what he calls “curry stews” — just mixing vegetables and meats with curry powder and water and boiling them. “But those travelling abroad knew the difference and they wanted authentic Indian food,” he said.

Nina Badhwar, publisher of ‘Indian Down Under’, a local monthly newspaper for the Indian community in Australia, says Indians make up the sixth largest ethnic group in the country.

She says Australians are likely to have developed a taste for curry after being invited to Indian homes for meals. “After tasting (Indian cuisine) they wanted more and looked for good Indian restaurants.”

Unlike some of the other Asian food joints, Gujral says Australians do not go to Indian restaurants because the food there is cheaper than their traditional steak and chips or fish and chips.

“Indian food are supposed to be expensive. It’s not because the Indians are indulging in profiteering, but to provide good authentic food we need good chefs and we have to import them from India,” he explained. “To get them here we have to pay them good money.”

The demand for Indian food has also encouraged the spread of Indian take-away chains. Another British-based, Indian-owned company, Maya Foods, has set up a chain of Indian samosa, pakora, puree and sweet shops in the country.

Many other Indian migrants, especially from Fiji and Punjab, have put up businesses catering for the cheap fast food market selling samosa, naans, rotis and curries.

Susan Millington, marketing director for Sharwood products, says Australians have warmed to Indian cuisine because it is convenient and easy to prepare. “(And) one thing Indian food has got going for it is variety,” she says.

Gujral says he has recently been approached by Australia’s second biggest airline, Ansette, to help prepare a special Indian menu for their domestic and international flights, “so I’m trying to come up with a new menu”.

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