In Mexico it’s a tortilla. In Ethiopia it’s injera. It’s naan in India and matzoh in Israel.
By whatever name you call it, flatbread is everywhere. And in the United States, it is a quickly rising part of the nearly $14 billion bread industry that is crowding shelves from Wal-Mart to Whole Foods.
Not bad for a product that can count its age in centuries.
“It’s a 2,000-year-old recipe,” says Mike Stimola, president of Sandella’s Flatbread, a cafe founded in 1994 in West Redding, Conn., that now has 125 locations. “It’s the original bread.”
It wasn’t long ago that the only flatbread found in most grocery stores were pita pockets and tortillas. Today, dozens of varieties compete with flavorings such as sun-dried tomato, different grains and shapes, even low-carb options.
In fact, flatbread has become so popular that new product launches in the U.S. went from 12 in 2005 to 51 in 2006, says Joanna Peot, spokeswoman for Chicago-based market research firm Mintel International Group.
Cookbook author Naomi Duguid isn’t surprised.
When she co-authored “Flatbreads & Flavors” in 1995, flatbread was still seen as something “a bit marginal” and ethnic, she says. But as chefs began to put flatbread in their bread baskets, it became far more common.
“Now you can go into any grocery store and there’s going to be a whole group of breads you could call flatbread,” she says.
Healthful eating trends explain most of the growth, says Peot. And unlikely as it may seem, fast food chains have helped, with wraps and other flatbread sandwiches appearing on numerous menus, including Quiznos and Arby’s.
Versatility also helps, says Anissa Helou, a Lebanese baker who recently published a baking cookbook with many flatbread recipes.
Americans are discovering that flatbreads work across cultures and eating styles.
Alisa Rosenbaum is one of the many Americans fueling the flatbread industry growth. She says she realized she was hooked on the stuff when she made pizza with it nearly every day for a week.
“It really gives you options,” says Rosenbaum, a 27-year-old economics development consultant from Washington. “It really is like a comfort food, but you can do it in a healthy way.”
