Posts Tagged ‘Mexico’

Cooking Latin food with Daisy!

April 14th, 2009 3 Comments

I find myself wanting to cook Puerto Rican food as one of my main goals in life. When cooking Latin dishes in my family, the recipes are very traditional and passed down from mother to daughter. I always enjoy my mom’s home cooked meals such as rice and beans, blood sausage, roast pork and fried plantains. When I go to Puerto Rico on vacation, I make sure I go to places that serve the best traditional dishes. Unfortunately, my sister is now a vegetarian and when it comes to Puerto Rican food we love to eat meat, so I feel it is up to me to continue the tradition that was passed down to my mom.

What I love about Latin cooking is that there is so much culture, history and diversity behind it. Every Latin American country has their own style of Latin dishes that greatly differ from other Latin countries, for example, Puerto Rican dishes are a mixture of Spanish, Taino (Ameri-Indian) and African origins. Mexican food differs from Puerto Rican as Puerto Rican food differs from Salvadoran food. The one common thing that goes behind cooking these wonderful Latin dishes is the warmth and comradery of friends and family coming together. I remember when I visited Puerto Rico for Christmas one time I was invited to a family member’s Christmas dinner. In Puerto Rican Christmas tradition, a pig is slowly roasted on a spit for about 8 hours and then it is served with other Puerto Rican dishes such as rice and beans, turkey, plantains just to name a few. I remember tasting the pernil (the roast pork) and I was in heaven, the meat was so tender and the skin, which is the best part was crispy. What I enjoyed most about the get together is that I was able to meet with family members that I haven’t seen in years and others I have never met at all. This encourages me to continue the traditional cooking of Puerto Rican food and I hope to pass it down to my son or daughter.

Whether you are Hispanic or not, anybody can successfully cook Latin style dishes from the comfort of their own home. There are so many books out there that will teach Latin dishes from Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and South America, just go with your preference. I myself enjoy a recipe book by Latin chef Daisy Martinez called Daisy Cooks! To me, she is a great chef to follow because cooks a variety of Latin dishes, particularly Puerto Rican. She does have her own website called Daisy Cooks! where it offers information on some of her recipes, products, and schedules of her TV show ( you have to check your local listings)

Below is the cover of her book and a video that I happened to find on Youtube. It is not from her show but it shows her cooking style, her great personality and teaching style. Buen Provecho!

Daisy Cooks!

Daisy Cooks!

Youtube video of Daisy Martinez cooking.

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Hispanic Culture: The Lifestyle

March 24th, 2009 1 Comment

Hispanics consider family to be the most important part of their lives. They embrace opportunities to get together with family, extended family, and friends. When marketing to Hispanics, make a family friendly brand and consider that the marketing message may be touching more than one generation.

Hispanics are very social and like to communicate for an extended period of time so customer service plays a key factor in how Hispanics measure loyalty for a retailer or service.

Hispanic culture operates on P-time, or poly-chronic time, which gives rise to looser time schedules, deeper involvements with individuals and a “wait-and-see-what develops” attitude.

Hispanics tend to live in small communities. This allow Hispanics to maintain their language and culture, thus, small communities are very important to them.

Hispanics place alot of value in the importance of belonging to a group, thus images and symbols are often used to represent a particular segment. Ex: Wearing a country’s flag as part of an apparel or jewelry.

Hispanics tend to be conservative and traditional in their cultural lifestyle.

The Spanish language is not uniform throughout the Hispanic world. Words vary from one Latin country to another. Ex: The word “orange juice” is translated “jugo de naranja” in Cuba, but in Puerto Rico is is “jugo de china.”

Across Latin America, there can be important variations in behavior in different Latin countries. Ex: Argentina has a more European behavior while Venezuela has Caribbean.

Warm colors are popular to use. It’s representative of Latino warmth.

Using images or symbols related to a Hispanic segment must be appropriate to that particular business in that segment. Ex: Putting an image of a man in a Mexican hat and a poncho in an ad for a Nicaraguan restaurant in unacceptable.

You must learn as much as possible about the particular segments within the Hispanic market. If a product needs branding in Mexico then you should gather market data about the Mexican lifestyle. If you are planning to expand business into Puerto Rico, be sure to gather data on Puerto Rican purchasing power and promotion for consumer attraction. Research and a planned strategy are two key factors that will lead to a successful Hispanic marketing plan.

During my research I happened to come by a book using Google book search called Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective by Felipe and Betty Ann Korzenny that you can read online. Some pages may have been omitted due to copyright issues but the information displayed are still very useful and it’s free! I highly recommend you take the time and read this book as a stepping stone in understanding the Hispanic Market.

Click on image to go to link

Click on image to go to link

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The Hispanic

March 22nd, 2009 No Comments

latina

A majority of the American population recognizes Hispanics having similar characteristics throughout the diverse segmented groups. The physical characteristics of black hair and tan skin are considered universal identifiers of a Hispanic. The fact that media and Hollywood also portrays Hispanics under these physical traits does not help; Hispanics are diverse in physical characteristics, culture, and tradition.

It is true that a large majority of the Hispanic population fall under these charcateristics, it all depends on the region that they are from. For example, the large majority of Hispanics are considered to be mestizos, of having Ameri-Indian and Iberian (Spain, Portugal) ancestry. This particular group populates region of Mexico, Central America, and South America. A 2nd ethnic group that are considered Hispanics despite their skin color are the mulattos, of having African ancestry. This group largely populates the regions of Brazil and the Caribbean islands.

All this diversity makes up the modern Hispanic due to early Spanish colonization. When marketing to the Hispanic market one must break from the normal stereotype and understand that Hispanics are full of diversity which ranges from light skin and light eyes of European origin to dark skin and dark eyes from a mixed ancestry.

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