In just a few decades, St. Petersburg Florida has transformed into a community with restaurants that feature multicultural dishes from around the world, as well as local flavors.
Are millennials responsible for the ever growing food trend? Does millennial FOMO, or the fear of missing out, contribute to their drive to try new things? A panel of speakers including food experts Laura Reiley, Emmanuel Roux and Janet Keeler were led by moderator and radio host Robin Sussingham of at the seventh annual Conference on World Affairs discussed their thoughts about millennials. The three-day conference brought thousands of community members to USFSP for the more than 30 panel discussions on art, politics, foreign policy and other topics.
Laura Reiley spoke about the uprise in interest of craft beer and attributed that business success to millennials. “Seeking novelty is a uniquely American trait,” she said. American culture embraces new flavors that different cultures have to offer.
This panel of food experts also discussed the importance of food as well as the significance of international dining in St. Petersburg when they spoke to an audience of community members on Wednesday.
Restaurant owner Roux, said, “Food is a very important part of culture.” He discussed how chefs want to humanize their food, as well as the eating experience. He said “everyone wants an experience” and what he means by that is how eating food from a different culture can transport a person and give them a literal taste of what a different culture is like.
While USFSP journalism professor and former Tampa Bay Times food editor Janet Keeler may shoutout millennials for wanting to try new things, not everyone has the same positive mindset as her.
Roux said rather millennials don’t want to eat traditional French cuisine. He explains that this way of eating is formal and has three to five courses. He said that millennials are not as interested in this way of eating, instead they prefer just “eating a cuban up the street.”
“Things are classic for a reason,” added Sussingham. With her contribution to this topic about millennials the panel became divided. Keeler and Reiley spoke about the improvements millennials have made to international dining while Roux and Sussingham believed somethings need to stay the same and are just not working with millennials new style of eating.
Local foodie and audience member Pat Fling added her opinion to this divided topic.
“It’s not just millennials who bring diversity, but also retirees,” she said. She agreed that millennials have contributed to international dining but also included a second view point. Snow birds that move from up North and come to the South have experiences that they can share with the new city they are living in.
Retirees have lived all over and have traveled throughout the country, they can provide valuable insight on food trends happening as much as millennials, she said.
“The conference in general I love,” said Fling. Ever since she moved to St. Petersburg over a year ago she has attended many local conferences and enjoys being able to contribute her voice in these community discussions.