De facto immigrant cultural integration: Supermarket products in France and the United Kingdom

Grand debates about the failures of multiculturalism are likely to continue raging across Europe for years to come.  In this article I sidestep those debates and examine the de facto cultural integration that has already occurred. In particular, I analyze immigrant cultural influence on products in mainstream French and UK supermarket chains. The data generate three main results. The first is evidence that non-Europeans have already become a de facto part of mainstream European gastronomical culture, despite the broader political debates about whether non-Europeans are culturally compatible with European traditions. Second, there is also evidence that the de facto integration of non-European gastronomical influences occurs differently in France and the UK.  Consistent with expectations from the national models literature, there is more influence of non-European cultures on UK as opposed to French supermarkets. In addition, French supermarkets are more likely than UK supermarkets to adapt non-European cultural influences to traditional domestic dishes. Finally, although the political debate about non-European cultural influences is focused on immigration-related challenges, my results suggest that broader globalization trends are equally (if not more) important.