As Yolanda Martinez-Schneider made her way through the Spanish-labeled aisles of El Ahorro grocery store on Monday afternoon, she filled her basket with ingredients for some of her favorite meals.
With celery and oregano for her chicken and dumplings, a can of fruit cocktail for a healthy yet tasty snack, crushed red pepper and a pig's head for her tamales, Martinez's shopping cart looked like that of a growing number of U.S. consumers - a mixture of both traditional American and ethnic foods.
While Hispanic grocery markets are grossing $90 billion a year, the demand for other types of ethnic food beyond the "big three" - Mexican, Chinese and Italian - is steadily increasing, as seen by the influx of more niche grocery stores and increased ethnic products on the shelves of major grocery retailers.
"It's a good challenge that we need to stay on top of emerging trends in markets," said Doug Wallace, general manager for H-E-B Plus on Navarro Street. "We listen to our customers. When they ask for items, we do everything we can to source them." READ MORE
