Ethnic foods serving cultural bridge or barrier? A systematic literature review

This paper summarizes available qualitative studies on various kinds of ethnic foods, focusing on their potential to build cultural bridges in multicultural societies globally. This systematic literature review provides a detailed account of extracted themes, presents the extent of marketing literature, and indicates the research gaps to be addressed in the future. The PRISMA methodology for a systematic literature review (SLR) was adopted. Based on specified inclusion and exclusion criteria (i.e. only qualitative studies on ethnic foods published between 1990–2020), a total of 39 studies were found eligible for analysis. The major explored themes from these studies are presented in the form of comparative tables along with interpretations. It was found that most of the marketing literature has explored some superficial aspects of ethnic foods, including quality, taste, and extrinsic cues, etc. A second stream of research has focused on exploring the potential roles of ethnic food as a source of either cultural bridge or barrier in a multicultural world. This SLR has identified the cultural bridging aspect of ethnic foods as a major research gap in this area and invites subscription from future researchers, not only in marketing but also in other related disciplines. The major limitation is that this SLR included only qualitative studies. This work would have implications for marketers of ethnic foods in multicultural countries as they can attract people from various ethnic groups considering it as a cultural bridging tool. This is the first-ever systematic literature review conducted on ethnic foods from the perspective of its importance for multicultural societies. •Literary investigations into ethnic foods, exploring their potential as either cultural bridges or cultural barriers, are limited.•Qualitative inquiries can offer a comprehensive perspective on the relevant themes that define these roles.•A systematic literature review will play a crucial role in shaping the future research agenda in this regard.