secret recipes

I asked my roommate why she thought secret recipes were important, she answered “because they’re secret”, and in my opinion this sums up why we love secret recipes pretty well. Our society has a strong craving to know the things we don’t; our curiosity is endless, and this reflected in many aspects of our culture, even food!  Secret recipes serve as the targets for our inquisitiveness within the food culture. Secret recipes hold importance to those who know it and those who wish to know it for many different reasons.  For the recipe-holder secret-recipes are important because the possessors now have something that others covet. And having others desire your recipe to a particular dish is a compliment to your culinary talents and an ego booster! If you just gave away your recipe, you access to culinary importance would be shared by all, and therefore no longer significant. When you have a highly craved recipe you have leverage (even if minute) over others. For those who don’t know the recipe, secret recipes are important because they present a challenge. Either you try and find a way to gain access to the recipe or you have to make you own recipe that surpasses the undisclosed recipe. Our culture’s love of food and our limitless curiosity is combined and mirrored r through our embrace of secret recipes.

For corporations like Coke and KFC secret recipes serve as a way for them to distinguish themselves from competitors. It has also proved to be a strategic marketing plan. Coke isn’t like Pepsi because it has a secret recipe that can’t be duplicated;  KFC isn’t like Popeye’s because KFC uses 11 herbs and spices that distinguish it from all other fried chicken, and in their point of view makes it better. The use  of a secret recipe by large food franchises lets consumers know that they won’t be able to find a product similar to theirs anywhere else; thus drawing them in, and in some cases  even spend more money. Having a product  that has become  very successful over the years, then keeping the process and ingredients involved  in its creation stumps competitors and excites customers!