Factors Influencing the Willingness to Taste Unusual Foods

Abstract

Factors associated with willingness to taste 12 unusual foods were examined among 42 mature university students in a realistic taste testing situation. Low or nonsignificant correlations were found between subjects' willingness to taste the different foods and their scores on personality measures of sensation seeking as well as their ratings of familiarity with each food. Unexpectedly, age was a significant factor, with the older subjects being somewhat more willing to taste the unusual foods. Only a scale of items dealing specifically with food habits was highly correlated with subjects' willingness to try the unusual foods. The results suggest that food adventurousness is best accounted for by highly specific attitudes about food rather than general personality measures.