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Asian foods are now a permanent part of the Western diet in restaurants, takeaways and home cooking. The trend is increasing at record rates and the choice of Asian cuisines is ever widening.
Once limited to Chinese restaurants and the occasional Indian curry house in Western cities, the Eastern cuisine market has since exploded into a dramatically wider choice that encompasses extensive offerings from India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, Burma, Singapore, Korea, Sri Lanka and others.
Food industry sources say there are several reasons for the trend. Western palates yearn for more exciting and spicier tastes. Travel has introduced many people to Asian tastes and left permanent desires for more of the same. Many people recognize the health benefits of Asian foods and like the quick preparation and economy of many dishes. Asian food also caters extensively for vegetarians, as well as meat lovers.
The Asian cuisine scene offers a wide variety of tastes, everything from hot Indian and Thai curries to the bland and subtle tastes of Chinese and Japanese dishes. Most of the cooking cultures date back thousands of years and many of the recipes are as old.
One of the most interesting contemporary trends is the record swing to home cooking of Asian food in the West.
Because people are making Asian part of their normal home cooking diet, Western supermarkets now devote large areas of valuable shelf space to Asian foods and the range of products available is ever expanding.
Food manufacturers are constantly introducing new products, ranging from sauces and pastes to ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat meals. Asian cooking equipment is also a big seller.
Expert says it's just the beginning of a really big boom over the next decade. Currently Westerners have only savoured a small amount of Asian recipes. Within each Asian country's culinary culture there are thousands more tasty delights yet to be discovered. In addition, new modern Asian recipes are being developed, many of them geared to Western tastebuds.
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