Some products have arrived straight from Latin America (pots and pans from Mexico’s top selling cookware brand, for example) while others are designed specifically for Hispanic households, such as Megatrade International’s line of food containers. The company sells containers meant to store traditional foods such as tortillas, rice and beans, aimed at among other targets, Hispanic laborers.

So naturally, I assumed that cookware companies selling Hispanic items would also be targeting the general market, but it appears from the article I read that their primary focus is the less acculturated Hispanic consumer and purists who want to use traditional tools from back home.

In 2005, total U.S. housewares sales totaled more than $76 million, an increase of 17 percent from 2004. Given how much food, beverage and housewares companies are courting Hispanics, we can assume that Hispanics – of all acculturation levels – account for a good portion of that amount.

Hispanics who have close roots to their homes and cooking traditions have often resorted to asking friends and relatives or packing housewares such as areperas (Oster-made arepa makers from Venezuela), calderos (used in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico, etc.) and comales (from Mexico) when they move to the U.S. Having access to products made and distributed in the U.S. can help with replacements and access.

Yet, part of me wonders if houseware companies that overlook more acculturated segments of the U.S. Hispanic market, and the general market, too, are missing an opportunity. More so when foods and recipes from Latin America are catching on and becoming very popular among general market palates.

What do you think? Leave your comments here.

The Hopkins team monitored commercial breaks and found that Hispanic stations ’averaged two to three food commercials an hour, with one-third of them specifically targeted to children. Almost half of all food commercials promoted fast food, and more than half of all drink commercials featured soda and drinks with high sugar content.”

This is a particularly important topic of concern in our community because Hispanic children have the highest rates of obesity, as documented by the CDC and other sources.

Health experts have found a correlation between marketing unhealthy habits to children and unhealthy behavior, with the infamous Joe Camel of Camel cigarettes the best example of a campaign roundly criticized for influencing children.

Hopkins was careful not to place blame solely on the ads, the stations or the advertisers, and provided a number of solutions to help reduce the problem of obesity among Hispanic children, including reducing the number of hours children watch TV each day, creating a parent-child dialogue about healthy food choices, and lobbying lawmakers to place limits on food advertising targeted to children.

Research has demonstrated that acculturation and access to convenient and processed food choices contribute to rising obesity, diabetes and related conditions among Hispanics. So targeting the family is important when it comes to modifying unhealthy behaviors. Public relations can be an effective tool in educating Hispanic parents about the nutritional value of the foods their kids eat.

For example, culturally relevant recipes and cooking tips from Spanish-speaking chefs, and Nutrition 101 lessons, can go a long way towards teaching healthier eating habits. This model has worked well for non-profit and food makers alike.

At the same time, outreach to health care practitioners and community health centers can help educate health care influencers about how to talk to Hispanic parents and children about nutrition. Spanish-language brochures and an understanding of Hispanic attitudes and education about nutrition can create a better dialogue and stronger path to ending the problem of Hispanic childhood obesity.

Like many rituals throughout Latin America, Day of the Dead has its roots in indigenous cultures that revered and memorialized their ancestors. The most traditional celebrations in Mexico include visits to the gravesites of deceased family members, shrines featuring items they loved while they were alive (I’ve seen shrines with cigarettes and tequila bottles!) and joyous, sometimes all-night, parties. Other essentials include sugar skull and skeleton-shaped candies, pan de muerto and lots of marigolds (on the shrines and scattered around the gravesites).

If is sounds a bit like Halloween, that’s because it is. They both have origins in ancient cultures, and they both are hugely popular modern holidays.

According the National Retail Federation, Halloween spending is up this year, at over $5 billion. Across the country, there are Day of Dead celebrations and exhibits popping up in museums, art galleries, even on college campuses, making the holiday visible and increasingly popular among non-Hispanics.

There are even do-it-yourself sugar skull kits available online and at craft stores – one of the sweetest examples of cross-cultural exchange I’ve ever seen!

So hungry, that Packaged Facts predicts the U.S. Hispanic food and beverage market – which includes “authentic Hispanic,” mainstream Mexican” and “nuevo Latino” categories – will grow by 11.3 percent this year to $6.3 billion.

And now mainstream media is picking up on the trend. Gourmet, the upscale epicurean magazine, has devoted its entire September issue to Latino cuisine in the U.S., and Everyday with Rachael Ray, the perky talk show host’s magazine, has added chef Daisy Martinez, host of her own PBS cooking show, as a monthly columnist.

On the broadcast side, chef’s Daisy’s show is going strong, and the Food Network has ordered more episodes of Simply Delicioso, hosted by Latina lifestyle goddess Ingrid Hoffman. (By the way, Ingrid also has a show on Galavision/Univision, making her the first TV host to have two shows in two languages on two networks – you go girl!)

What’s interesting about all this is that food and beverage marketers now have even more media vehicles for promoting their products – and a hungry marketplace willing to give them a try. Watch for more Latino chefs and media titles making it to the big time, and more Latino-inspired foods and beverages hitting the grocery store aisles very soon.

Chipotle, the dark, smoky version of the ubiquitous jalapeño, is popping up on restaurant menus and in grocery store aisles across the country. Last year, Mintel Menu Insights reported that the chipotle pepper experienced a 15% growth on restaurant menus, and the trend shows no sign of stopping. Nearly every fast food chain offers a chipotle sandwich and just last week I sampled a chipotle flavored chip dip.

So what is it about chipotle that makes it so popular? For starters, it offers an approachable version of an exotic ingredient. It’s no secret that American tastes are changing, and stronger, bolder ethnic flavors are making their way onto restaurant and kitchen tables more each day.

Chipotle is also versatile. It can be used to spice up virtually any dish, from chicken to fish to vegetables. It lends a smooth yet rich, distinctive flavor whose heat factor can be dialed up or down.

The rise of the chipotle reminds me of another Mexican food, a condiment to be precise, that at one time must have seemed new and different to many people but today is more popular than ketchup: salsa.

Initially and still primarily consumed as a dip for tortilla chips, salsa is also used to add zing to burgers and other meats, even pasta dishes. Like chipotle, salsa can be mild or spicy, and mixes well with a variety of ingredients, hence the popularity of fruit-based salsas like peach, mango and raspberry.

Salsa is a fascinating case study in how Americans have embraced a Mexican food and made it their own. Many of the mild, chunky and fruity salsas on the market barely resemble their counterparts in Mexico, where most salsas are made spicy and thin.

When talking about the Hispanic market we make reference to the process of acculturation of immigrant groups whereby they gradually adopt a greater proportion of attitudes and behaviors of the dominant culture, but we seldom reference the phenomenon of adoption whereby customs and behaviors introduced by members of the immigrant community are adopted by the general population to one degree or another. The case of chipotle and salsa mirrors that of many others introduced by multiple immigrant groups during the history of the United States.

As chipotle gains in popularity, it will be interesting to see how it will change to suit American tastes, and what dishes it will be added to next. Now that salsa has paved the way for chipotle, anything is possible.

Have you ever seen a chipotle pepper? They’re ugly, and yet they’re so popular.

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* The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.