World cuisines: everyday escapism
Pleasure, discovery, escapism: world cuisines are winning over more and more French consumers and have firmly found their place in kitchen cupboards. Yet behind this momentum, the category remains hard for shoppers to navigate, both in store and online. A closer look at the two heavyweights of the category, Mexican and Asian cuisine, and at the challenges still to be met to turn it into a true destination category.
Growth that shows no sign of slowing
With an 80% penetration rate¹, world food products are now part of everyday life in France. And consumption keeps growing, driven by two cuisines in particular.
+13.3% value growth for Mexican cuisine in 2024²
+5.6% expected annual growth for Asian cuisine to 2028³
It is also an incremental range that recruits new shoppers. Its formats are suited to small households and new consumption habits, and its customer base is over-indexed among under-34s⁴. A valuable lever for retailers, who can use it to attract younger shoppers, both in store and online.
At the heart of new consumption habits
World cuisines are so popular because they tick every box of what French consumers are looking for today: pleasure, variety and escapism.
Pleasure is the number one driver of at-home consumption in France, both overall and within the world food category⁵ ⁶. Close behind, variety is the second driver of world food consumption⁶, and the number one reason for buying different types of meal kits⁷. In other words, shoppers are not just looking to recreate a recipe: they want to switch things up, try new things and vary their meals.
Each cuisine also meets its own specific needs. Asian cuisine is linked to essential nutrition, convenience, culinary experience and wellbeing. Mexican cuisine, on the other hand, is associated with everyday cooking, moments of sharing and culinary discovery. Indeed, 24% of consumers look for intense flavours, and 40% look for sauces with new flavours⁸.
Pleasure
The number one driver of at-home consumption
Variety
The number one reason for buying different meal kits
Escapism/Discovery
40% of shoppers want sauces with new flavours
These are very distinct consumption worlds, with a direct consequence: shoppers do not choose a Mexican product the same way they choose an Asian one.
A category that still needs to stand out
World cuisines take taste buds on a journey, yet the category remains a mere stopover, and not yet a destination category: shoppers rarely visit the aisle, and struggle to find their way around it³.
1 in 10 shoppers visits the aisle during a store trip
40% of shoppers struggle to find the products they are looking for
1 in 2 ends up abandoning their purchase
And online, the range is even harder to read. Without being able to browse the shelves physically, shoppers depend entirely on the website's navigation, which does not always reflect their actual selection criteria. The result: sales potential that remains partly untapped, even though the appetite is clearly there.
The challenges facing the category
To seize this opportunity and turn world cuisines into a destination category, brands and retailers have three challenges to meet.
Staying top of mind: World food products are still very often impulse purchases. The challenge is therefore to make them visible at the right moment, so they naturally find their place in the weekly shop.
Removing barriers to purchase: An unfamiliar sauce, condiment or meal kit only makes it into the basket if shoppers know how to use it. Introducing products and their specific uses is essential to turn curiosity into a purchase.
Tailoring the journey to each cuisine: As we have seen, Mexican and Asian cuisines meet different needs, so shoppers do not navigate them in the same way. To truly guide them, a tailored journey specific to each segment is needed, reflecting the particularities of each cuisine rather than a single journey for the whole category.
Staying top of mind
So they are no longer bought on impulse alone
Removing barriers to purchase
Explaining the different uses of each product
Tailoring the journey to each cuisine
To offer shoppers the smoothest, most natural experience
An online journey designed for each cuisine
This last challenge is precisely the one Matcha has taken on, alongside General Mills for Mexican flavours and Mars Food for Asian flavours. Together, we have rolled out a product recommendation solution on Intermarché Drive and Carrefour Drive, to make both ranges easier to read online.
Rather than a single journey, each cuisine has its own interface, designed around the desires and needs that drive purchase. Shoppers are guided according to their own criteria: the consumption occasion, the type of dish they want, the format or their culinary preferences. Each partner's category expertise made it possible to build journeys that reflect how shoppers actually choose their products.
A cross-brand approach that benefits the whole category: a simpler journey for shoppers, better visibility for the ranges, and a discovery experience that helps remove barriers to purchase. Enough to finally make the category a true destination, no passport required.
Frequently asked questions
Is the world cuisine market growing in France?
Yes. With an 80% penetration rate, world food products are part of everyday life in France, and consumption keeps growing. Mexican cuisine represents a potential of +€96M by 2030, and Asian cuisine +€80M by 2028.
Why do French consumers buy world food products?
Pleasure is the number one driver of at-home consumption, including for world food products. Variety comes second: it is also the number one reason for buying different types of meal kits. Each cuisine then meets its own specific needs: essential nutrition, convenience and wellbeing for Asian cuisine, everyday cooking and moments of sharing for Mexican cuisine. Not to mention a desire for escapism without leaving the kitchen.
How can the online shopping journey for world food products be improved?
By taking each cuisine's particularities into account. Shoppers do not choose a Mexican product and an Asian product based on the same criteria: building a tailored journey for each segment helps guide them according to the occasion, the type of dish or their culinary preferences.
Sources :
Nielsen Consumer, MAT P4 2025 / Kantar Food Usage 2024 / Mintel, Industry Trend, July 2024
Circana, MAT P2 2024, via LSA
Mars study, 2023
Nielsen Homescan, Total France, MAT P3 2025
Kantar Food Usage In-home consumption, July 2024
Kantar Food Usage Worldfood, January 2025
Nielsen Homescan Panel View Kits, March 2024
General Mills study
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