Beauty is in the pie of the beholder

So by now we've probably eaten enough cupcakes. Well it gives me great pleasure to tell you all that this year is the year of the pie. Savoury or Sweet, pies are going stratospheric. According to an article in the Independent in 2010 AllRecipes.com saw a 20% increase in pie based search. So popular are pies now, that a savoury pie followed by a sweet pie is becoming commonplace.

Andrew Freeman runs a restaurant consultancy in San Francisco. “If I had one trend — one trend — of the year that I could predict, that’s why it’s in the No. 1 position, this would be the trend for pie," he said. "I think that we’re going to make room for pie shops in the next year... I’ll eat pie if I don’t get this one right at the end of the year.”

Because of the internet of course

Last year Orange County saw an explosion in the appearance of gourmet 'Food Trucks'. Thanks to the internet and social networking, patrons could find the whereabouts of their favourite traveling foodstuffs. Food truck districts are now cropping up. It seems as though this could be the next stage of the pop up restaurant. The pop up and pootle around restaurant perhaps. It would appear likely that this trend will spread around the world in 2011.

Add just a dash off testosterone.

In an article from Time in November we saw that single women in  their 20s are comfortably out-earning their male counterparts, and in a recession where traditionally male jobs have been hit, America has seen 1 in 3 women overtake their partner's salary. The result is the man does the cooking.

According to the Food Channel, men are spending three times as much in the kitchen now as they did in the 1970s.

Lebanon Xploring - The New Generation

Lebanon’s Food Lovers

The New Generation

Nathalie, 22

Nathalie’s father is the owner of a well-known restaurant chain while her mother is a dietician. At times, her father brings home pastries and cakes which often irritate Nathalie’s mother, a health conscious woman who tries to improve her children’s eating habits. Although she has learned to watch her diet, Nathalie believes in consuming all types of food and not stopping herself from eating anything. She describes her lifestyle as “consuming everything in moderation.”
Agatha, 22Agatha is one of those who want to lose weight but are incapable because of their love for food. She enjoys baking cakes, has tried every restaurant in town, and almost all of her outings revolve around food. After numerous attempts to lose weight, Agatha, like Nathalie, decided that consuming everything in moderation was the best option.
Lebanese Cuisine with a Twist
Nathalie and Agatha decided to go to a Lebanese restaurant. The new generation generally prefers international cuisine, but given that Lebanese restaurants have introduced a modern twist to their interior and food, young adults now enjoy going there. We had to wait half an hour before being seated. This is because Lebanese people typically sit for two hours or more eating, socializing, and smoking their hookahs. After what seemed like an endless wait, we were finally seated. Many adults like Nathalie and Agatha filled the restaurant. I noticed that several elements about Lebanese restaurants were altered to attract the new generation. The interior was more modern, the restaurant’s name was written in English, the menu was written in both English and Arabic, the food was less oily and the presentation of dishes was more sophisticated. Even the hookahs had a modern design. Although the restaurant was modern in some aspects, it also attempted to preserve Lebanese culture and tradition.

The Order
When she looked at the menu, the first thing Agatha noticed was the diet section. She asked us if we would like to order beetroot salad. Nathalie agreed and added that she would also like “fattoush”, another Lebanese salad. Agatha added hummus and grilled cheese rolls to the order, while Nathalie ordered mashed eggplants, pine leaves and Lebanese sausages. We also added a mixed grill platter as a main dish. “We had the option of fried cheese rolls and grilled cheese rolls. I went for the grilled ones,” Agatha said. The menu also contained much fattier items. These items, though, are not typically ordered among the new generation. I noticed that overall, the order was relatively low in fat and rich in vegetables. “One diet coke please,” Nathalie told the waiter. “I ordered it because I like the taste and not because I am on a diet,” she said to me.

The Discussion
Nathalie told me about how she always has salad before having her main dish. “Lebanese food is very healthy. The side dishes include all types of vegetables and our main dish is full of protein,” she said. “I also absolutely love the variety we have. I prefer that over having just one main dish,” she continued. At home, Nathalie’s mother cooks both Lebanese and international food and sometimes both on the same day. They either use butter, specifically unsalted Lurpak, or corn oil for cooking. Butter is mainly used at their home for making rice, sauces, and cakes. Nathalie does not like the taste of butter much and therefore does not usually ask for butter in her sandwiches. As for margarine, Nathalie mentioned that it was hydrogenated fat. “It is the worst, so we never use that at home,” she said. Finally, Nathalie tells me that they occasionally consume low fat products such as low fat yoghurt and skimmed milk.
Before serving the starters, the waiter brought us some bread. I told him to bring single serving butter as well. Neither Nathalie nor Agatha came close to the butter. Agatha does not like butter much because she does not think it adds value to food. She also did not want me to add oil to the hummus dish. It was clear that Agatha was health conscious. She ordered grilled cheese rolls instead of fried ones, did not touch the butter, avoided oil to her hummus, and consumed much of the beetroot salad and ‘fattoush’ and to avoid the sausages. “I do not understand why people think Lebanese food is heavy and full of fat! Even though it has margarine and oil, it is nothing compared to the oil and fat in fast food,” she said. At home, Agatha uses unsalted butter mostly for frying and baking cakes. She avoids salted butter or low fat butter.

I noticed that Nathalie and Agatha ate their vegetables without commenting on the pesticide issue. When I asked them, both did not seem to care much about whether the vegetables were organic or not. “At times we try to buy organic vegetables, but they’re much more expensive. It is not a priority,” Nathalie said.
Both of Nathalie’s and Agatha’s outings revolve around food. “I enjoy food to a certain extent, but really there’s nothing else to do, right?” Agatha said. Nathalie agreed. For Nathalie, the best food is Japanese. She particularly loves sushi because it is very rich in Omega 3 fats. She does not consume fast food because her mother taught her to dislike it. At times, Nathalie watches Fatafeat, a cooking channel, for the fun of it, without paying attention to a recipe’s ingredients. However, if she wants to try out a new recipe, she looks for one on the Internet. As for Agatha, good food is tasty and spicy, with Mexican food serving as a prime example. She does not watch cooking channels or and would rather browse the Internet for recipes as well. Agatha also likes to try recipes printed on the packaging of some products.
I was also interested in asking them about how they imagine their children’s lifestyle will be given that they are both career oriented and might not have enough time for cooking. Both answered the exact same thing. They would like their kids to have the same lifestyle as them, just as they have acquired their eating habits from their parents. Both will have helpers who will help with cooking but both admit that eating out will be quite common. Nathalie also added that she would like to get her family used to eating a lot of fruits and vegetables and will teach them to consume everything in moderation, without forbidding them from anything.
Implications for Lurpak
The new generation cares more about low fat food than the previous generation. However, the primary motivation for that appears to be so they remain in shape rather than for health reasons. In addition, Lebanese people tend to watch their diet at home, but the frequency at which they eat out implies that they do not try to follow a healthy lifestyle and are not very much aware of the health risks associated with eating restaurant food.

Lebanon Xploring - Amal

Lebanon’s food lovers

Amal Doumet

Amal is a housewife in her early 50’s. She has a passion for gourmet food and aims to make home meals as refined as possible. She is also a cautious woman who always watches after her family’s health. However, Amal is a food lover and understands that using a healthy alternative for a certain ingredient does not always give the best result in terms of taste. According to her, achieving a balance between healthiness and taste is very important. I accompanied Amal to the supermarket on a Tuesday morning to buy groceries for the week. “My list depends on what I have planned to cook during the coming few days”, she said. “The meat is already in my freezer. I buy meats only once a month and keep them in the freezer for later use.” She also mentioned how she has gotten her family used to eating vegetable servings three times a week, fish meals twice, and red meat no more than twice a week.

The Organic Fad

Amal has gotten accustomed to buying groceries from one supermarket. She has memorized the order of aisles and writes her list accordingly. The first thing on her list was vegetables. She immediately reaches for the organic division. “Wow, there are all kinds of vegetables today! I am buying four bouquets of parsley because I rarely find parsley in the organic section. I noticed that in less than three minutes, the cart was filled with vegetables. She was very glad to have found so many organic vegetables.

“In Lebanon, there is absolutely no control over the amount of insecticides being used. They do not care about our health, it is chaos” she continues. As we were leaving the organic division, a lady in her mid 50’s approaches us. “All organic I see, excellent! I am an employee in the Canadian Association and have worked closely with “campagna” (the organic brand). You should trust them, they are absolutely excellent” she says. And the conversation goes on for approximately 15 minutes. Because of the lack of control by the government, Amal, like many Lebanese, has recently learned about the importance of consuming organic products.

Butter = Lurpak

Amal does not need butter; she needs Lurpak. “At home, we do not run out of Lurpak. It is always there. One pack lasts us approximately two weeks” She says. As we walk through the aisle, she stops next to the Lurpak segment and reaches for the unsalted one. She always uses unsalted butter. “I use sunflower oil to cook, and extra virgin olive oil for cold dishes and salads…I do not buy meat with fat, so I add a small piece of Lurpak to give it some taste, especially if I have guests. I also use Lurpak to prepare sauces, but rarely spread it on bread. My family and I never got used to that” she says. Amal continues by saying that she knows how French butter is the best, but its problem is that it’s too heavy, and its taste in food is very noticeable. She therefore uses Lurpak because it balances food and gives a good taste, without making her feel the texture and heaviness of butter. Whenever she can however, she avoids using Lurpak and enhances the taste by using ingredients such as spices, garlic, and onion. “One very important point,” she adds, “is a rule we have at home. By the end of our meal, none of our plates should be shining with butter or oil!”

An International Influence

Amal continues her morning shopping.

She stops by the cheeses to buy Camembert, Roquefort, and Fol epi for Wednesday’s “dinner in front of the TV”. Her husband’s brothers will be joining them as well. It is very common for Lebanese family and friends to gather in front of the TV, around a semi-low table to have wine, cheese, deli meat, and grapes. This is a very French habit. As we wait for the clerk at the deli meat station to slice the ham, Amal explains to me how the deli meat she buys is German, French, or Italian made most of the time.

We now stroll through the sauces aisle. She picks up sesame oil and oyster sauce for a Chinese noodles dish. “I usually buy the most expensive brands in any category, simply because they are the best. I also look at where they are manufactured and from that I can tell if they are good products or not” she adds. She closely examines the expiry date, puts the oyster sauce back on the shelf, and reaches for one that is placed further from sight. “These have a farther expiry date” she says.

The last item on the list is frozen fish. She keeps it for last so it doesn’t thaw. “Fresh Lebanese fish is excellent in Lebanon, and a very important part of our cuisine, but our sea is polluted because of previous disasters and because there is no control over how factories dump their wastes. So I would rather buy frozen and imported fish. I’m sad to be saying this but the more European or American the food the better” Amal says. Amal is influenced by international foods because she has lived abroad and travels frequently, and that is the case for numerous Lebanese. However, Amal cooks a lot of Lebanese food because it is healthy. It contains a lot of garlic, onion, and tomato, she says. But some dishes are just too fattening and she only consumes them infrequently at restaurants. As soon as she gets home, Amal benefits from all the organic vegetables she found and prepares “fattoush”, a typical Lebanese salad.

Implications for Lurpak

Lurpak is a well known brand and a leader in its category. It is also widely used amongst Lebanese. However, it is more often used for sweets and international dishes rather than typical Lebanese food which requires margarine and olive oil instead.

Lebanon Xploring -

Lebanon’s food lovers - Youmna
Youmna is a housewife with two kids. Like most Lebanese families, she has a housekeeper that helps with daily chores and cooking. She finds pleasure in cuisine, in challenging herself to make sophisticated foods, and in conversing with her friends about new recipes. Youmna’s kitchen is well organized and her fridge is packed with groceries. Next to her fridge is an apron. She reaches for it, wears it, and ties her hair in a bun. We start off with the cooking!

Easter Fasting

The helper gathers onion, rice, lentils, and corn oil from the shelves. “It just takes four ingredients to prepare ‘mdardara’. We fast on Holy Wednesdays and Good Fridays. We do not eat meat or animal products,” Youmna says. She cooks with either corn oil or olive oil but never with butter on these occasions. She cuts the onions “julienne” (she uses French terms often), fries them, adds rice and lentils, and mixes them all together. “If it were an ordinary day, I would have added some knobs of butter on top, closed the lid of the pan, and slowly let them melt and sink into the lentils and rice,” she says.

As the lentils and rice are cooking, she prepares the ingredients for the vegetarian pizza. That is typical of Youmna, who always combines Lebanese and international cuisine, both of which her family enjoys. Also, she cooks two different dishes everyday so that all family members are satisfied with the food. “Please help me slice the eggplant while I slice the zucchini,” she tells her helper. When they are done slicing, Youmna grills the eggplant and zucchini in the toaster oven. She does not fry them to avoid using oil.

The Lebanese Recipes’ Network

It is time for the pizza sauce. Over the weekend, Youmna and her son had pizza at a friend’s house and liked the sauce very much, so she decided to give it a try. In a very spontaneous manner, Youmna calls up her friend and asks for the recipe. She gives it to Youmna but skimps on the details. As a result, Youmna takes it as a personal challenge to figure out the entire recipe and make the sauce taste better than her friend’s! A few minutes later another friend of Youmna comes over to ask for her fish fajita recipe. Youmna and her friends exchange many recipes. They rarely use books, but they quite often watch cooking channels on TV.

While the pizza is in the toaster, Youmna makes herself a cream cheese sandwich with whole wheat bread. The cheese has no low fat label. She sometimes buys low fat items, but it is not a priority for her. She now takes out homemade pickles and tells me: I know I can find these in the supermarket, but I still enjoy the Lebanese concept of “moune” (an old Lebanese tradition to prepare and store foods for winter season or even the whole year). While she is taking a break from cooking, I ask her about her shopping routines. Youmna explains to me how her helper writes the shopping list and jokingly comments on how long her lists usually are. Afterwards, Youmna rearranges the items on the list according to the order of products in the supermarket to avoid too much walking while shopping for food.

ButterYoumna’s family consumes one big pack of butter per week. I noticed that she is not the brand loyal type of person. Youmna would not mind switching brands, not only in the butter category, but in other categories as well. In her fridge was a big pack of Al Wadi butter, a Lebanese brand. It was salted, and 25 % lower in fat. She loves Lurpak as well, because “it just tastes better” and talks about how she loves spreading it on bread. Whenever she has guests, she buys the single serving packs of butter, particularly the salted ones because there is no need to add salt after spreading it on bread. She said she bought Al Wadi because it is 25% lower in fat but does not mind buying Lurpak if it is lower in fat as well. Here is the irony: Youmna admits that it is funny how she cares about low fat food, while she fries her eggs with “crème freche” which is heavier than butter, and stores “awarma”, which is pure animal cooking fat, in the pantry. “Why should I buy low fat products?” she adds, “both of my kids are skinny, so why would I stop them from eating better tasting food?”

As for sweets, Youmna uses unsalted butter. The day before, she had prepared “maamoul”, a typical sweet Lebanese mothers prepare during Easter. She used both butter and margarine, but added that she only uses margarine when making “maamoul”.

Getting the Table Ready

In a very informal manner, Youmna places the “mdardara” and pizza on the table. “I dislike decorating my table. I find it boring and I do it forcibly when I have people over” she says. The table was simple, but when she has people over for lunch, Youmna adds several side dishes and vegetables. She tells me about how she met the Minister of Environmental Affairs. She asked him about the scare of pesticides in fruits and vegetables and about organic products in Lebanon. He told her that it is difficult to verify which produce is truly organic, and ever since, Youmna had decided to consume regular fruits and vegetables and no longer buys organic produce.

Implications for LurpakSome people like Youmna are not too brand loyal and are not very cautious as to what they consume. They are not very predictable in their behavior either and do not possess firm opinions regarding food quality and brands. This segment can easily be influenced with labels, ads, and promotions and requires frequent campaigns to keep the brands in the consumer’s mind.

Lebanon Xploring - Patricia

Lebanon’s Food Lovers Patricia

Patricia is a 33 year old woman living with her husband, newborn child, and helper. A food lover in every sense, she has a passion for eating and socializing around food, and most importantly enjoys challenging herself to make new dishes. She is well known among family and friends for her spontaneity, speed at shopping, and meal preparation. On a typical day, Patricia calls up friends and invites them to have lunch at her house, rushes to the supermarket to buy the ingredients, and experiments by preparing dishes she has not tried before.
The Shopping Process
“Could you please cut the vegetables on the counter? I’m going to the supermarket and will be back in half an hour,” Patricia tells her helper. She carries her baby, closes the door, and walks into the elevator. “Today, I’m experimenting with a new salad dish and Tagliatelle al Salmone,” she tells me. She tasted the salad at a friend’s house a few days back and tried the Salmon Tagliatelle at a restaurant. Patricia refers to the Salmon Tagliatelle in Italian, the way it was written on the restaurant menu. She and her husband are international cuisine lovers and only occasionally prepare Lebanese food. Her mother prepares Lebanese food much more often and sends her dishes almost every day.Patricia goes to the supermarket several times a week, since she decides what she is cooking at the last minute. Her lists therefore include items for the day’s meals. At the top of her list is cabbage. Although the country is going through an organic fad because of recent rumors about inappropriate usage of pesticides, Patricia quickly reaches for the cabbage and places it in a bag, even if it is not organic. “I do not care much about whether vegetables are organic or not. I only stopped eating zucchini because they have the worst pesticide absorption. And besides, my parents have a garden at home and I get some of my fruits and vegetables from there,” she says. Patricia is spontaneous and not very health conscious. Her main concern is preparing original food that replicates a taste she experienced at a restaurant or friend’s house.
The next items on her list are parmesan and gruyere. Patricia spent three minutes looking for her favorite parmesan brand. It was pre-packaged, and she opted for that instead of fresh parmesan because it was faster to buy. The same logic applied to gruyere or the “Tom and Jerry” cheese, as she calls it. “I want a good brand” she says. She holds one up, looks at me, and asks: “This is a well known brand, right?” Patricia insists on buying well known international brands and is very regular in her shopping. She does not switch brands often and would rather stick to one well-known brand.

“I still need salmon” she says. “The salmon over the tagliatelle in the restaurant was smoked and thick. I need to find some of those,” she continues. She walks through the frozen fish aisle but does not find any brand that matches the picture she had in her mind. She runs to the cashier, pays for the items, and rushes to another supermarket. Patricia wants to find the same type of salmon she saw on her dish at the restaurant. After several minutes of looking, she finds what she was looking for, buys it and drives back home.
Off with the Cooking!
Patricia and her helper quickly prepare the vegetables and shake the sauce in an empty mayonnaise jar. The salad is ready in less than 10 minutes! She then boils the tagliatelle while frying the salmon filets. She opens her fridge, takes out her 75% fat free ‘Elle et Vire’ butter and puts a bit more than a spoonful in the pan. Patricia is very loyal to ‘Elle et Vire’, mostly because of the low fat content.

Some food she cooks requires her to use butter, while other food requires corn oil. As for margarine, she uses it rarely and only with rice. “My husband said his mother’s rice tastes better than mine. I tell him the reason is because she uses margarine,” she said. “I told him that I do not mind cooking the rice with margarine from now on.” Then she continues talking to me about how her husband cares about buying low fat items more than she does. Patricia and her husband’s behaviors are very inconsistent. She buys her butter with the lowest amount of fat, but at the same time bakes cakes and deserts almost every day. Similarly, her husband buys low fat food items but asks for margarine in his rice. Patricia’s butter pack lasts approximately two weeks.

She opens a recipe book and searches for Salmon Tagliatelle. She skims through it but decides that she is less than convinced. Instead, Patricia decides to follow her instincts. Although she gets her recipes from several sources, Patricia likes to add her own touch when cooking food.Getting the Table Ready
At around two o’clock, her mother and brother arrive carrying a typical Lebanese dish prepared for Easter. Patricia now needs to get the table ready. She places almonds, green peas, olives, her mother’s dish, the salad, and the Salmon Tagliatelle. At the last minute, she decides to fry some of the cheese rolls she had in her freezer. She pours some corn oil in the frying pan and fries the cheese rolls. The table is ready! A typical Lebanese table is full of vegetables and side dishes. Her dishes are colorful and presentable, as she appreciates good looking food and finds pleasure in garnishing her dishes.

Implications for LurpakSome people are brand loyal, but their loyalty is not based on justifiable reasons. Their loyalty could be due to the brand’s eminence, image, or associations. Patricia, for instance, has a tendency to buy ‘Elle et Vire’ because it is French and 75% fat free. This is mainly attributable to a trend towards international and low fat products in the country. This segment can be reached by linking the product at hand with the current trend or associating it to the segment’s present interests.

Greece Xploring - Yiannis

2nd Interview: Yiannis
Yiannis is working at the hotel industry since he has renting rooms in Crete. He is in his late 40’s and he is single. His studies are on hotel management and cooking. He reports that he loves cooking and it seems natural to him. He reports that if someone knows the basic techniques, it is then easy to improvise.

He used to cook French cuisine for many years when he was living in Switzerland. Though, when he came back to Greece he has discovered that most of his friends were not very keen to taste new flavors and experimentations. Thus, he started cooking Greek cuisine and re-discovered the traditional recipes of Crete where his family lives. Though, he believes that Greek cuisine is heavier and more difficult to digest than the French one. In that sense, he sometimes cook French cuisine for himself or for very few friends who are open to experimentation and new tastes.

He reports that he loves food and cooking. Food is for him a great pleasure that he is not willing to sacrifice. He is watching TV cooking programs and he is still buying cooking magazines. He reports that he does not follow a recipe to the detail. He grabs the general idea and he improvises. He likes to experiment especially on the well-known and traditional Greek recipes by adding new ingredients. The new “twisted” tastes that he likes more; he prepares them for his friends to gather opinions.

He likes cooking for his friends and invites people for dinner often. He has a big dinner table and living room, ideal for inviting friends over.
He reports that he is “a meat-eater”, he prefers eating meat in many and varying recipes. He is going frequently to the gym and walks a lot to burn all the extra calories. Lately, he started to experiment with bio products. He reports that those products remind him the raw ingredients he used to eat in Crete. He is also buying a lot of things from Crete as oil, cheese, herbs and olives.

He is going to the super market every other day. He reports that he prefers to buy the few ingredients he needs for a couple-of-days cooking and then go again to the super-market. It seems that the super market aisles often offer him ideas about recipes. He does not like the outdoor market but he prefers to shop his vegetables and fruits from a nearby shop that specializes in rare and exotic fruits.

He also likes butter both for cooking and for eating as a spread with honey. He is accustomed to its taste from all the years that he lived in Switzerland.
He also buys a goat-sheep butter from Crete that reminds him the taste of his childhood years. Though, he reports that it is a butter that he seldom use and only for local, traditional recipes.
He seems less loyal to the butter brand he uses and is not susceptible to promotional activities as he seems to be in other product categories. He reports that the specific butter brand he purchases in one of the few things he buys without even looking to the remaining brands and offers.

Greece Xploring - Yannis

1st Interview: Yiannis

I met Yiannis at his apartment Saturday morning. He is an internal designer, in his 50’s and he lives alone. This Saturday morning he was cooking a special meal for his friends who would come over for an extended lunch. He made some coffee and he started by describing his relation to food and cooking. He reports that he just loves food; he loves full and rich flavors and prefers high quality raw materials as they offer a better taste. He mainly follows the Mediterranean, Greek cuisine but sometimes he also cooks Italian risotto or a French recipe for meat. He sometimes cooks Chinese food as it is perceived healthy and light.

He likes cooking for his friends and invites people for lunch or dinner often. He has an open to the living room kitchen and a big dinner table. He explains that this arrangement makes it easy for him to cook while socializing with his friends.

He claims that he has learned to cook from his grand-mother who was a refugee from Istanbul and she was cooking the Eastern Greek cuisine. He also has numerous books with recipes. He reports that he is “a meat-eater”, he prefers eating meat from various animals: beef, pork, lamb, chicken and certainly turkey that he seems to prefer. He is proud that although he prefers full fat and many meat dishes, his cholesterol levels are low.

He is going to the super market for most of his purchases but he prefers going to the outdoor fruit market of his neighborhood for fresh and quality fruits and vegetables. He is also interested at bio products.

He reports that he tries to buy bio products, at least the pasta and rice, as he believes that apart from being of high quality, they also have a better taste. He also reports that he is buying local food specialties when traveling and he travels a lot. He currently has two different types of Greek yellow cheese from two different islands that specialize on those types, a variety of pulses from the North of Greece and many products as oil, butter and olives from Crete.

He seems to be “in love” with Crete and its food and food ingredients. He believes that Cretan people really know how to cook and how to eat well. Yiannis is also making sweets and especially home-made jam and sweet preserves like lemon and rose…
Butter seems to be important in his cuisine: he utilizes many and different kinds of butter, each for a different occasion. He uses the color of the butter as a usage criterion: the whiter the butter is, the richer the taste as it comes from goat and sheep milk. This kind of butter is more suitable for sweets and meat recipes, whereas the more yellow butter, milk butter, seems to be more suitable for spread and for cooking pasta or rice. He reports that President or Lurpak have a more refined taste and he prefers them for more refined cuisine.

He buys the goat-sheep butter from Crete whereas President and Lurpak from the super-market. In that context, he pays attention to any promotional activities as he considers both brands are equally tasty and of high quality. His fridge has both President and Lurpak as he likes both.
In general, his has some brands that he considers as “favorite” brands and he is loyal: Skip and Eurika for washing clothes, Nescafe Gold, Barilla for pasta, a local Greek tuna brand as it tastes better than Rio Mare, Coca Cola Zero etc. He seems less loyal to the butter brand and more susceptible to promotional activities.

Greece Xploring Results - Maritina

Maritina
Maritina is in her late 30’s, she married with a little girl and pregnant. She is expecting her second girl and she seems very happy about it! She is working in a State Agency and she is counting the days for her maternal leave.
She reports that she loves good food though cooking is something that she shares with her husband who also loves cooking. It seems that Maritina is preparing the simpler and everyday dishes while Yiannis (also in his late 30’s and a lawyer) is preparing the recipes that need many ingredients and a more lengthy procedure. Many times they are cooking together especially when they are cooking for one of their famous dinners with friends or relatives, sometimes with both!

They seem to be a well-organized couple: they are visiting a hyper market once a month for long lasting products, they are visiting a super market for the week’s supplies, and they are buying their meat at the local butcher and fruit and vegetables from the local open-market. Yiannis has also an open eye for different and interesting ingredients or even ready-made cakes from the States since those cakes are world-famous.

They report that family life calls for organization since they have to have cooked food everyday both for the little one and the pregnant mother who needs to carefully monitor her diet. They also like to eat out frequently as it is a form of going out where they can take their daughter with them.
Maritina reports that she prefers to follow the Mediterranean and Greek cuisine. Yiannis is more open to experimentation with new recipes he finds on TV cooking programs or magazines or the internet. He reports that many times the final outcome is not that promising as it was on TV or the Net. They are also looking for simple and fun recipes for their daughter who does not have eating very high in her priorities. Yiannis was cooking pasta with Dora the Explorer since the little “princess” wanted to eat pasta.
Butter is one ingredient that they always have at their fridge. They have one kind of butter for cooking, VITAM, and another, LURPAK, for eating. Maritina reports that Yiannis is not very loyal to this arrangement and that he prefers to use LURPAK to cooking as well since he believes that it offers great and full taste. Maritina seems a little more worried about their cholesterol levels and the calories and she tries to use more VITAM. The little “princess” seems to share dad’s preferences for LURPAK on bread with honey. Yiannis is using also butter to make sweets like home-made chocolate truffles.

They are also experimenting with bio products, especially for their daughter and they are frequently buying organic foods for the home cooking.
They report that they are both loyal to brands though they have an open eye for new products and brands. They even experiment private super market labels in some super market categories like beers but seldom on food categories.