Abacus | Curry is British, pizza is Japanese: Asia can grow fat on the West’s post-lockdown appetite

What’s on the menu after a year of coronavirus: chicken tikka masala, inside-out sushi or pizza drizzled in mayonnaise?

Asian condiment manufacturers are likely to see a boom in overseas sales as people with bored taste buds emerge from their homes and start dining out again

Reading Time:5 minutes

Published: 7:30am, 19 Apr 2021Updated: 7:30am, 19 Apr 2021

LIVE TO EAT

Emerging from various forms of lockdown around the world and fed up with cooking at home, one of the first things many people will want to do is go back to their favourite restaurants.

There is evidence now that this is happening, and a quick look at the mobility data which Apple publishes, derived from the number of requests for directions to addresses through its apps, shows the acceleration of the trend.

Take Britain, for example, where there was a clear jump in the mobility data as social distancing measures were eased at the beginning of last week. Americans, who drive everywhere, caused a similar jump in requests for directions in New York, substantiated by New York City road toll collections in the first 10 days of April hitting a seven-year high.

So what are people heading out to eat after months of their own cooking? Perhaps something exotic and Asian? I thought it might be interesting to consider if there is a financial impact in Asia of people eating out again in Britain, Europe and the United States.

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