In the latest edition of Australian Hospitality Magazine, there is a full page advertisement by Knorr (Unilever Foodsolutions) entitled Flavours of the World.Looking further into Knorr’s World Cuisine product range, I was surprised to see that there wasn’t a single Australian flavour in their range. I would have though that since the World Cuisine brand was only available in Australia there would be at least one variant using our authentic Australian ingredients. Their tag line is “We think the world of food” but obviously they didn’t think much about Australian foods.

The product claims the range is “Created by professional chefs for professional chefs”.
Who are they kidding?
Why would a professional chef want to use such boring flavours?
What professional chef even put his name to the uninspired collection?

The sales brochure also says “Offering the latest in flavour trends”…are you serious? No professional chefs would ever believe this? Since when did fruit chutney become the latest flavour?

The tired flavours in Knorr’s range include Moroccan Sauce, Portuguese Peri Peri Sauce with Roasted Capsicum, Chipotle BBQ Sauce, Cajun Sauce, Tomato Chilli Jam and Fruit Chutney…… How exciting.

Moroccan food was a flash in the pan 2-3 years ago
Peri Peri sauce is great if you run a Nando’s outlet
Chipotle BBQ sauce – great marketing for the same old hot sauce
Cajun? Well that’s popular in Australia isn’t it?
And the other two are obviously add ons for all the Indian restaurants.

I think Unilever should really look at this range of products and evaluate the employment of the brand manager of this category.If professional chefs (or even Unilever) are looking for innovation and excitement in what they serve, then why not look at things like Australian flavoured sauces like Mountain Pepper BBQ Sauce, Bush Tomato Chutney, Lemon Aspen Sweet Chilli sauce, Paperbark Smoked mustard or Rainforest Splash to name a few.

All of these ready to use products feature native Australian flavours and are not designed by chefs but used innovative food technology in the appropriate manufacture of volume condiments. In fact, they were designed by Vic Cherikoff who has lead the innovation of an authentic Australian cuisine as a competitive advantage for the food service industry over the past twenty years. Vic’s flavours are really Australia’s contribution to World Cuisine and Flavours of the World and I’d recommend that Unilever (Knorrs) develop an Australian sauce to represent Australia in their range.