Research released today by KFC Australia reveals that Aussie taste buds are hotting-up – with almost seven out of ten Australians believing that we’re generally eating hotter food than twenty years ago and over half of people (62%) saying that they like the taste of chilli. With so many Aussies craving a heat hit, KFC Australia has launched the Zinger Supercharged and Zinger Chilli-Charged burgers, adding three levels of spice to the iconic Zinger range.
Food Psychologist, sensory expert and author of Taste Matters, Professor John Prescott, notes “In most Western countries, Australia included, chilli consumption is on the increase. Adding chilli provides more interesting, complex flavours that have greater sensory impact.
“The more heat we consume, the more we tend to like it. One possible reason for this is that chilli consumption is followed by general feelings of well-being – the food equivalent of the jogger’s ‘high’ ” says Professor Prescott.
Over forty per cent of Australians admit to regularly selecting hot dishes from restaurant menus, and over a third frequently add extra heat to food after it has been prepared.
“We see a difference in Aussie habits across our 600 plus restaurants in terms of preference for spicy versus non-spicy burgers. Our research showed that 61 per cent of people said they have become more tolerant to chilli, so we want to give our fans the spice-hit they’re craving, which is why we’re introducing the Super-Charged and Chilli-Charged burgers to the Zinger family,” Fritz Meyer, Chief Food Innovation and Technology Officer, KFC Australia.
Source: KFC media release.