Sensory Evaluation of Traditional Products by Variety-Seekers and Food Neophobics

Abstract

Food preferences of humans are shaped by a number of factors, including variety-seeking and food neophobia. The study, conducted in two European regions, Małopolska in Poland and East Flanders in Belgium, tested eight traditional products from Małopolska with 193 East Flemish respondents and eight traditional products from East Flanders with 196 Małopolskan respondents. The first aim was to segment consumers based on variety-seeking and food neophobia scales. The second aim was exploration of differences between the variety-seeking segment and the neophobic segment in terms of levels of overall liking, liking of selected sensory attributes, and willingness to buy (WTB) tested products. The third aim was explaining consumer segments by socioeconomic profiles. The study showed that neophobic segments were smaller than the variety-seeking segments for both regions. The variety-seeking segments gave different overall liking scores, sensory liking scores, and WTB scores than neophobic segments for a number of tested products. This study confirmed that odor was the best sensory discriminator of liking. Sociodemographic profiles of consumers differed among the regions.