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Effects of cultural background on consumer perception


and acceptability of foods and drinks: a review of latest
cross-cultural studies
Sohyun Jeong and Jeehyun Lee

Culture is a key factor in consumers’ choice of food products. attitude influence food acceptance is imperative if we are
Through a review of 2019–2021 cross-cultural studies, this to comprehend the behavior of consumers [5]. Further,
paper highlights the effects of culture on consumers’ sensory our ability to predict and maximize consumer preferences
perception and acceptability of foods and drinks and considers requires a deep understanding of cultural aspects [6].
differences in the ways consumers from different countries Through a survey of some of the most recent cross-
describe the sensory properties of foods and drinks. As cultural cultural food literature (2019–2021), this review study
elements can influence the results of sensory studies, the focuses on the influence of consumers’ cultural back-
effects of familiarity with the food or beverage samples, ground on their sensory perception and acceptability
information on health benefits of the product or ingredients, when evaluating food samples. We review findings on
food labels, language, and the food environment are the impact of cultural differences in familiarity and
considered here. The selected cross-cultural food studies expectation and the effects of social values and beliefs
focused on consumers’ sensory perception, acceptability, and on consumers’ reactions to foods. We also consider other
discrimination ability. We suggest that demographic aspects demographic factors that can impact the findings of food
such as education, sex, and specific age groups should also be sample studies. The schematic relationships of factors
considered in cross-cultural studies because results may be considered in these cross-cultural studies are presented in
influenced by consumer composition in addition to their Figure 1. Studies published in the latter half of 2021 are
culture. not included in this review.

Address Familiarity
Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Pusan National University, Familiarity is a complex notion related to individual
Busan 46241, Republic of Korea
experiences with a product, a key driver in the purchase
Corresponding author: Lee, Jeehyun (jeehyunlee@pusan.ac.kr) and consumption process [7], and an important factor in
the acceptability of food products. Familiarity reduces
uncertainty associated with a product and ensures that
Current Opinion in Food Science 2021, 39:248–256
consumers’ expectations and actual product character-
This review comes from a themed issue on Sensory science and istics are synchronized [8,9]. A consumer’s degree of
consumer perception
familiarity with a product influences their perception of
Edited by Han-Seok Seo its sensory properties, and lack of familiarity with a
product is linked to lower involvement with it [10].
Familiarity can affect the types of descriptors of daily life
and sensory properties that individuals use [10] Addi-
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cofs.2021.07.004
tionally, because of negative responses to unfamiliar
2214-7993/ 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an foods, including fear of risk and suspicion, lack of famil-
open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons. iarity has been found to have an undesirable effect on
org/licenses/by/4.0/).
hedonic responses, openness to new foods, and purchase
intent [11].

Introduction
Culture is a key element that influences consumers’ food Effects of familiarity on consumers’ sensory perception
choices and their food-related attitudes and beliefs [1]. It and acceptance
modulates their behavior, adjusts their sense of taste, and Previous studies have established that familiarity with a
guides their preferences. Therefore, culture influences food product influences how customers perceive it and
individual and social group representation processes [2]. whether they ultimately accept it. For example, research-
Consumers’ cultural background influences how they ers noted that higher liking scores for fruit chips among
perceive food, and this affects how much they will use US consumers compared with Korean and Chinese con-
and accept the food [3]. Even for anosmic patients, sumers may be due to US consumers’ relatively more
cultural context plays a predominant role in forming their frequent consumption of it [12]. US and Korean con-
food attitudes [4]. As such, developing our understanding sumers’ previous rice consumption frequency signifi-
of how cultural differences in perception, knowledge, and cantly influenced their overall liking and flavor liking

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Cross-cultural effect on consumer perception and acceptabiilty Jeong and Lee 249

Figure 1

Individual consumers’
Acceptability Unconscious hedonics
discriminative power Sensory perception
[6*], [16], [21], [29]
[12], [13], [14], [15], (Priming effect)
[10*], [16], [22], [23], [24], [25], [17], [18], [20] [30], [31], [32*]
[26*], [28]

Ethnic foods and Information [5], [34]


Uncommon foods not familiar
Different degree of familiarity
across the cultures
[12], [13], [14*], [15], [16], [17],[20], Familiarity Effects of social values
[21], [28] - Different reasoning on Expectation Labels [39], [40]
acceptance
and belief

Government Policy
Common foods and soical
Preferred foods
[3], [14*], [20], familiar atmosphere
Cultural differences [41], [43], [44], [45], [46]
: dietary habit
cultural attitude [19]

Demographics
[18], [55]
Language
[3], [10], [16],
[24], [28], [47], [48], [49], Other factors
[50] Methodological influencing food
considerations with acceptance and
cultural studies sensory perception
of food Specific age group:
Children
Values [51*], [52] [56], [57], [58], [59], [60]
[61]

Current Opinion in Food Science

Overview: Cultural factors that could influence consumer acceptability and sensory perception of foods.

of black rice with respect to cultivar and degree of milling different sensory response than US and Irish partici-
[13]. Similarly, in a study on ten foods (‘tortoise jelly, chili pants, perhaps because of their general lack of familiarity
slices, beef jerky, dried tofu, Vegemite1, durian cake, with dairy products [16]. However, low food neophobia
octopus chips, chocolate, corn chips, and wasabi coated may counteract some negative effects of lack of famil-
peas’), both Asians and Westerners had higher familiarity iarity with a food. For example, in a study on familiarity
with and visual liking for foods that originated in their with spirulina, low food neophobia was found to promote
own cultural spheres, suggesting that consumers’ high acceptance of spirulina products, even when familiarity
familiarity with a product can positively impact its liking with the ingredient was low [17]. Furthermore, in a study
score [14]. on aroma-enhanced reduced-sugar products with Danish
and Chinese consumers, familiarity with a given bever-
For example, according to Garvey et al.’s study [15], US age matrix was found to influence cultural groups’ liking
consumers preferred the customary soft, light-yellow- [18].
colored ‘margarine like’ butter from cattle fed a total
mixed ration (TMR). However, Irish consumers were Likewise, dietary habits and cultural attitudes influence
more familiar with butter from cattle with pasture-rich individuals’ preferred food textures. Differences in oral
diets of rye and clover. In Germany, both types of butter texture processing preferences have been observed
are widely available. Such differences in consumers’ among Chinese and Danish consumers: that is, Chinese
familiarity with butter based on cattle diet influence consumers preferred processing soft foods while Danish
their experience with the sensory properties of food, consumers preferred processing firm foods [19]. However,
perhaps explaining why Irish consumers rated the color certain products possess characteristics preferred by con-
intensity in the unfamiliar TMR butter lower. Moreover, sumers, regardless of culture, and thus such products tend
in a study on powdered milk with Irish, US, and Chinese to receive high liking scores from participants from all
consumers, Chinese participants exhibited a slightly cultural groups. For example, most consumers, across all

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250 Sensory science and consumer perception

cultures, prefer sweet and salty foods and dislike sour and ratings compared with the ratings for non-local cheeses
bitter foods. Salty and sweet snacks like potato chips and [24]. Cecchini et al. [25] suggested that there were
milk chocolates have high liking scores [14], and con- differences in responses to umami—considered a fifth
sumers across all groups have a higher preference for ‘taste’ in addition to sweet, salty, bitter, and sour—among
sweet products than for ‘sour’ or ‘bitter’ unsweetened cultures. In another study on umami, researchers found
ones [3]. Moreover, both US and Korean consumers were significant differences in discrimination, pleasantness,
found to like sweet-tasting spicy dipping sauces more and preference between Finish, German, and Italian
than sour-tasting ones [20]. participants’ perceptions of monosodium glutamate
(MSG) and sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions. Although
Similarly, it was observed that consumers tend to nega- Europeans were able to differentiate between MSG and
tively rate the unique properties of foods that they are NaCl samples, they could not effectively describe the
unfamiliar with. UK consumers who were unfamiliar with ‘umami’ flavor in the MSG sample using free verbal
Waterford Blaa, a traditional Irish bread roll, disliked a description. This could be because umami is not widely
sample that had been dusted in flour dusting, which is a recognized in European culture [26].
unique property of the food [21]. United Arab Emirates
(UAE) consumers rated a salad dressing sample that In a previous study, consumers differentiated between six
contained Korean fermented seasonings lower in flavor different goat milk formulations based on the character-
familiarity and mean overall liking than did US and istics of similar products that they were familiar with [22].
Korean consumers. This rating could be based on UAE Italian consumers distinguished between goat milk
participants’ lack of familiarity with the flavor of the yogurt formulations according to degree of goat odor
fermented ingredients in the dressing sample, which and flavor, while Czech consumers used degrees of sour-
could be the major dislike factor for these UAE consu- ness or sweetness to distinguish between the formula-
mers [20]. tions, suggesting that participants were better at distin-
guishing the quality of the samples of foods they were
Effects of familiarity on consumers’ discriminative familiar than the samples of foods they were unfamiliar
power with. That is, Italian consumers frequently use goat
Consumers’ degree of familiarity with food products has products, and Czech consumers frequently consume fer-
also been found to influence their ability to differentiate mented milk, which is characterized by a sour taste [22].
between samples. Familiarity with the raw ingredient, Italian, Spanish, and French consumers could more easily
with its treatment and processing [16], and with the food differentiate between the Protected Designation of Ori-
products derived from it [22] impact sensory perception gin (PDO) cheeses and non-PDO cheeses from their own
along cultural lines. In a study by Cheng et al. [16], Irish country than they could between the PDO and non-PDO
consumers, who are less familiar with higher heat-treated cheeses from other countries [24].
dairy products than are Chinese and US consumers,
generally rated many of the sensory attributes of high However, when consumers are not familiar with a certain
heat-treated skim milk powder lower than did Chinese food in general, they may find it difficult to perceive the
and US consumers. Price et al. [23] suggested that cultural subtle differences between samples of that food. For
groups who were familiar with a food product, namely example, Chinese consumers, who were less familiar with
honey, had more discriminative terms for it at their coffee compared with Korean consumers, could not dis-
disposal and thus used more dispersed and individual tinguish the subtle differences in coffee samples as well
terms when responding to questions about it, compared as could Korean consumers [27]. However, Chinese con-
with a cultural group that was unfamiliar with it. More- sumers living in Korea had similar sensory perceptions of
over, Jamir et al. [10] found that Chinese consumers who and expressions for the ethnic Korean food Kimchi stew
were not familiar with hard cider used varying levels of as the trained Korean assessors, which is likely attribut-
simple repeated terms to describe it, while US partici- able to those consumers’ exposure to Korean food while
pants, who were familiar with hard cider, used more living in Korea [28].
nuanced terms. A consumer’s lack of familiarity with a
type of food may affect their ability to describe the
complex stimuli. Expectations
Effects of expectation on sensory perception and
Similarly, UAE participants who were not accustomed to acceptance
spicy foods rated all spicy dipping sauce samples made Consumers’ cultural expectations regarding certain food
with the fermented chili paste product gochujang much products can also influence their sensory preferences for
higher in spice intensity compared with participating those products. Researchers found cross-cultural differ-
Korean consumers, who had experienced this taste stim- ences in sensory preferences for drinkable yogurt
ulus frequently [22]. Similarly, consumers from Italy and between Chinese and New Zealand European consu-
Spain gave local cheeses higher perceived sensory quality mers. However, consumer language must be further

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Cross-cultural effect on consumer perception and acceptabiilty Jeong and Lee 251

investigated to gain insight into drivers of liking, as such Effects of social values and beliefs
drivers reflect cultural expectations [6]. Information on food benefits
The information that consumers have on the benefits of
In a cross-cultural study on the influence of teaware on given food products can influence the acceptability of
expectations and perceptions, Chinese participants such products. For example, a word association test
expressed perceived differences in bitterness and astrin- demonstrated that Brazilians who were aware of the
gency depending on the cups used, while the expecta- health and dietary benefits of nopal accepted the nopal
tions of US participants did not differ. This is likely cookie presented in the experiment even though they
because Chinese participant base their expectations of were not familiar with nopal as a food item [5]. Another
tea taste on the type of cup used to serve it, which is based study explored Australian, Chinese, and Vietnamese con-
on their prior experiences [29]. The gap between expec- sumers’ acceptance of an Australian wine product made
tations and actual evaluations appeared to influence lik- with a mushroom used in traditional Chinese medicine.
ing. This phenomenon was also observed among Danish They found that factors impacting consumers’ purchase
consumers who were familiar with vanilla aroma; they intentions differed across the three cultural groups and
experienced a bigger contrast between their expectations that the health benefits of such a wine were significant
and the actual taste of the sweet aqueous solutions decision drivers, especially for Vietnamese participants
involved in the study compared with Chinese consumers, [34]. Yin et al. conducted a diet optimization study with
which led to a decrease in liking [18]. residents of China’s Xinjian Uygur autonomous region.
They sought to minimize the environmental impact of
Effects of expectation on unconscious hedonics participants’ diet while respecting their health and exist-
Priming occurs when a stimulus is given, and it can affect ing food culture [35]; the importance of nutrition and
subsequent stimulus without conscious guidance or health to participants increased gradually as income levels
intention [30]. In a study on the effects of music on food increased [35]. In another study, researchers considered
choice and eye movements, a priming effect was observed values and lifestyle factors when assessing consumers’
when western and eastern consumers were played music responses to plant-forward foods, specifically a mush-
from a different culture than their own [31]. In that room-beef blend. They found that participating consu-
laboratory study, Chinese consumers fixated more on mers prioritized health benefits over taste and price [36].
the western food option when they were played western This sampling of recent research suggests that the infor-
music and Danish consumers fixated more on the eastern mation that consumers have regarding the health or other
food option when they were played eastern music. No benefits of an ingredient could influence consumers’
priming effect was observed when participants were adoption of foods containing it.
played music from their own culture, suggesting that
the ability of music to promote visual attention on food Labels
depends largely on a difference between the culture of Labeling can influence the hedonic response by differen-
the music and the culture of the listener. tiating a product, regardless of sensory properties, and the
magnitude of the effect is determined by the degree of an
In another eye-tracking study—this one exploring the individual’s positive inclination toward a specific label or
effects of ‘custom composed taste-congruent concept [37]. Additionally, products with lower sensory
soundtracks’ on food preference as indicated by eye acceptability, such as the cereal bars study from Italy, can
movements—researchers found that Chinese and Danish benefit from appealing labeling that highlights important
consumers fixated more on salty food while being played non-sensory food characteristics such as sustainability or
‘salty’ music, and fixated more on sweet food while being nutritional benefits [38]. However, labeling information
played ‘sweet’ music, regardless of culture [32]. Addi- also affects different cultural groups’ acceptance differ-
tional research should be undertaken to determine the ently because the degree of importance attached to a
degree to which such sensory soundtracks can cut through given piece of information or to a concept will differ
cultural considerations. across cultures.

Sato et al. [33] suggested that consumers’ unconscious A study found that differences in European, Asian, and
hedonic responses are also moderated by their cultural US consumers’ attitudes toward foods labeled as sustain-
experiences, which may not be detected on the basis of able were primarily because knowledge of food sustain-
explicit ratings. Polish participants showed higher pref- ability and concerns about related problem differed
erence ratings for fast food primes than for Japanese food across cultures and across age and education levels
primes, whereas Japanese participants showed compara- [39]. In a similar study, the perceived naturalness of
ble preference ratings across these two conditions. In the colorants and flavorants listed on product labels as ingre-
supraliminal rating task, both Polish and Japanese parti- dients was studied. Results indicated that the food
cipants reported comparable preferences for fast and product (beverage) as a whole was most important com-
Japanese food stimuli. pared to ingredients. Colorants and flavorants as well as

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252 Sensory science and consumer perception

other ingredients on labels influenced consumers’ per- concerned about sustainability, compared with other
ception of naturalness. Consumers considered products participants [46].
more natural when they understood the production
process and when they perceived it as having health Methodological considerations with cultural
benefits [40]. studies
Language
Government policy and social atmosphere As culture and language can influence the use of words,
Recent studies involving products with insect ingredients members of different cultures with different languages
illustrate the influence of cultural aspects such as govern- often have distinctive ways of describing the sensory
ment policy direction and social atmosphere on food properties of food products. This can influence the valid-
acceptance. In a study focused on insects in animal feed, ity of test results. For example, as Laaksonen et al. noted
Naranjo-Guevara et al. [41] asked Dutch and German in their study on pleasantness of oat products with Finish
students about their willingness to introduce animal and Chinese consumers, there may be subtle cultural and
products from animals that consumed insect-included linguistic nuances that researchers may not always cap-
feed into their diets and their willingness to directly ture [3]. Moreover, words can take on new and multiple
introduce food products, of various types, containing meanings when translated from one language into another
insects into their diets. Participants reported more will- [10,27]. Panelists’ native language can influence the
ingness to include insects in food, especially animal feed, descriptions created to explain samples [23]. Panelists
than did participants in previous studies. According to may be describing samples with words that exist only in
Naranjo-Guevara et al. [41], this could be attributed to their cultures [47]. Thus, translating sensory terms in
more widely available information and advertisements on consumer tests without cultural context is problematic
the benefits of insects in foods and feed in European [48].
countries in recent years. Likewise, in their review of
European studies on edible insects, Mancini et al. [42] Cross-cultural differences in the words frequently used
noted that consumers in the Netherlands and Belgium to describe foods have also been observed. For example,
consistently responded negatively to insects as a meat consumers from Poland, the US, and Singapore used
substitute in the past. However, in recent years consumer different terms frequently to describe the texture of
perception of entomophagy has been more positive as the liked or disliked foods [49]. The concepts communi-
European countries who legalized the consumption of cated by certain terms can also differ among cultures.
insects were recognized as leaders in the insect foods Usage and understanding of texture terms were not the
field. same across the cultures in a study on snack foods, and
while a few terms were similar, their conceptual mean-
Nonetheless, in a 2019 report on their survey of consu- ings were different [48]. For example, the concept of
mers from 13 countries, Castro and Chambers noted that ‘aftertaste’ on skim milk powder differed between Chi-
participants from India rejected insect-based products for nese consumers—who believed that a high-intensity,
religious reasons [43]. In another report on the same sweet, thick aftertaste was a good quality in milk—
study, many participants found products with visible and western consumers—who believed that no aftertaste
insect pieces unappealing [44]. In another study by those was better [16]. Similarly, researchers found slight dif-
same authors, products containing insects in unidentifi- ferences in the understanding of ‘ultra-processed food’
able form were more successful. Castro and Chambers between participating consumers from Argentina and
asked consumers from the USA, Mexico, and Spain to those from Ecuador. For example, consumers from
evaluate and compare wheat-flour-based cookies without Ecuador mentioned processed meats more frequently
cricket flour with wheat-flour cookies in which 15% and than did Argentinian consumers, possibly because
30% of the flour, respectively, had been replaced with Argentina has higher meat consumption levels than
cricket flour. There was no statistically significant differ- Ecuador per capita [50].
ence between US consumers’ liking of the 15% cricket
flour cookie sample and their liking of the control sample Values
(the wheat-flour-only cookie), and Mexico and Spain That food-associated and beverage-associated values dif-
consumers liked the 15% cricket flour cookie sample fer across cultures should be taken into account. In a study
more than the wheat cookie sample [45]. on how to conceptualize ‘feeling good’ in the context of
foods and beverages, cultural differences were found,
In terms of consumers’ attitudes toward sustainability, particularly in the case of certain specific foods and
Sánchez-Bravo et al. found differences by country, age, beverages. Feeling good has also been associated with
and education in their study on agricultural products [46]. emotional, physical (health-related), and social dimen-
Further, willingness to pay for sustainable products dif- sions in the context of food surroundings, habits, and
fered by country of the participants, and millennials and values attached to food [51]. Similarly, in a study of Post-
consumers with high-level education were more Ingestive Food Pleasure (PIFP), Danish consumers

Current Opinion in Food Science 2021, 42:248–256 www.sciencedirect.com


Cross-cultural effect on consumer perception and acceptabiilty Jeong and Lee 253

related PIFP with the body’s physical needs, while Chi- additional cultural differences in food rejection between
nese consumers associated it with the body’s ‘mental’ the two groups were observed [58]. Texture also influ-
needs [52]. enced children’s food preferences differently among cul-
tures. Northern European children tended to prefer
Other factors influencing food acceptance harder and more particulate foods compared with south-
and sensory perception of food ern European children [59]. Further, culture is an impor-
Demographics tant factor that strengthens similarity of vegetable liking
Although national culture is an important factor in con- between children and mothers [60,61]. Mothers’ liking
sumers’ sensory perception of food, it cannot be used to score for vegetables was generally higher than that of their
explain all the key differences in acceptability across children, but there were differences among Chilean,
cultures. Therefore, social, demographic, and economic Chinese, and US children when analyzed individually.
factors must also be considered [6,51]. For example, US mothers liked vegetables more than did their chil-
Italian females have a lower acceptance than Italian males dren, while Chilean and Chinese mothers’ vegetable
of novel foods that are non-traditional or exotic, such as liking was similar to that of their children. Notably,
jellyfish, [53] and insect-based foods [54]. Education level Chilean children preferred a wider variety of vegetables
and frequency of travel also appear to influence accept- compared with their mothers, which may be related to
ability even within the same culture. For example, people national dietary patterns that lead to nutritional problems
with higher education or who are frequent travelers have a such as being overweight and obesity in the country [61],
higher tendency to accept jellyfish as food [53]. In the which mothers may be following to a greater extent than
product identity study involving flavorings and colorants, their children.
higher-educated participants gave higher scores for natu-
ralness [40] and had positive attitudes toward sustainabil- Conclusions
ity [39]. This suggests that in novel food evaluation, This review of the most recent cross-cultural food studies
acceptability can differ depending on the composition demonstrates the impact that national culture, as an
of participants even within the same national cultural important component of individual identity, has on con-
group. sumers’ perception and acceptability of food. These
studies show that there are often cultural differences in
There are differences in taste interaction and cross-modal familiarity with certain food products and that degree of
effect among cultural groups. For example, Junge et al. familiarity can influence differentiation and perception of
[55] found that culture did not affect the suppression of foods. Reasons for liking or disliking certain foods dif-
sweetness intensity ratings by citric or tartaric acid but did fered across different cultures, and even children’s atti-
affect the suppression of sourness intensity ratings by tudes toward certain foods are dependent on the culture
sucrose. Moreover, Chinese consumers gave significantly in which they exist. Familiar foods generally have higher
higher sourness ratings when tartaric acid was suppressed acceptability, and consumers can describe the sensory
rather than citric acid, while Danish consumers displayed properties of familiar foods more effectively. However, as
no significant difference in rating the two. Similarly, in a we have seen, when consumers have information on the
study on the impact of vanilla aroma on sweet taste benefits of an unfamiliar food, it may be more acceptable
intensity, Bertelsen et al. [18], found that Danish con- to them.
sumers demonstrated a larger cross-modal effect than
Chinese consumers and, for sweetener that had a vanilla Finally, these studies reveal that consumers’ acceptance
aroma, Danish consumers rated sweet aroma and the of novel foods can change according to their country’s
sweet taste intensity higher than did Chinese. policy direction and social environment. Differences
within cultures have also been found. Thus, when con-
Specific age group: children ducting cross-cultural studies, factors other than culture,
Culture also influences children’s acceptance of foods. such as social context and composition of subjects, should
For example, a study with Chilean, Chinese, and US be considered.
children revealed that culture was an important factor that
influenced participants’ vegetable preferences [56]. With globalization, it is necessary to optimize food pro-
There were cross-cultural differences in the consump- ducts across the world. However, consumers’ sensory
tion, liking, and drivers of (dis)liking in children from perception and acceptance of foods are influenced by
Finland, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. These were culture and factors such as familiarity, language, food
identified through a check-all-that-apply assessment of environment, and information. Thus, in the future, these
the appearance, texture, and taste or flavor of fiber-rich factors should be studied in relation to different cultures.
biscuits [57]. Further, qualitative consumer research, such as focus
group interviews, could add insights to our existing
In a study on food rejection, French children were found knowledge on consumers’ food and beverage behavior
to be more neophobic and pickier than UK children, and and will enable a deeper understanding of the perception

www.sciencedirect.com Current Opinion in Food Science 2021, 42:248–256


254 Sensory science and consumer perception

of foods, the value of the product, and the reason for described it differently. US consumers used nuanced terms for aroma
and flavor while Chinese consumers used more hedonic terms and the
consuming food across different cultures. basic taste to differentiate.
11. Lee CL, Lee SH, Seo GG, Hong JH: The effect of plating,
Conflict of interest statement ingredients, and cooking processes on the acceptance and
authenticity of ethnic rice dishes. Foods 2020, 9:976.
Nothing declared.
12. Wong R, Kim S, Chung SJ, Cho MS: Texture preferences of
Chinese, Korean and US consumers: a case study with apple
Funding and pear dried fruits. Foods 2020, 9:377.
This work was supported by the National Research
13. Choi S, Kim I, Seo HS, Lee J: Cross-cultural consumer
Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean acceptability of cooked aromatic (cv. Heukhyangchal) and
government (Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Plan- non-aromatic (cv. Sinnongheukchal) black rice with different
milling degrees. J Sens Stud 2020, 35:e12595.
ning) (No. 2017R1C1B2006191).
14. Torrico DD, Fuentes S, Viejo CG, Ashman H, Dunshea FR: Cross-
 cultural effects of food product familiarity on sensory
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