Research reportAssociation between traditional food consumption and motives for food choice in six European countries
Introduction
In the last years there has been an increased interest in foods that are linked with a place or region of origin (Kuznesof et al., 1997, Verbeke and Roosen, 2009). Consumers increasingly demand local food and foods with a traditional character or image, which are often perceived as higher quality (Chambers et al., 2007, Fandos and Flavian, 2006) and more sustainable foods (Asebo et al., 2007, Risku-Norja et al., 2008) that fulfil a need for cultural identity and ethnocentrism (Chambers et al., 2007, Chryssochoidis et al., 2007, Vermeir and Verbeke, 2008). Traditional foods, which have been defined as foods that are differentiated through particular qualitative aspects and have a specific cultural identity (Jordana, 2000), fit with the aforementioned evolution. Besides their growing appeal among consumers, traditional food products have received increasing policy support, in particular in the European Union. The EU Regulations 2081/92 and 2082/92 of 14 July 1992 have defined the standards for a designation under different collective trademarks: Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), or Traditional Specialities Guaranteed (TSG) to a food product. These collective trademarks give producers the opportunity to promote their products and differentiate them on the market (Kuznesof et al., 1997). As a result of the policy and market interest, traditional foods have become increasingly attractive from an industry perspective, especially for small and medium sized enterprises. Emphasising product attributes generated by regional characteristics of the manufacturing area or by the use of traditional production practices creates new opportunities for marketers (Skuras & Vakrou, 2002). Moreover, cultivation of local raw materials and ingredients, which are mostly used in the production of traditional foods, contributes to a more sustainable environment and employment of local people in rural areas (Trichopoulou, Vasilopoulou, Georga, Soukara, & Dilis, 2006) (Fig. 1).
According to Bertozzi (1998) a traditional food product is a “representation of a group, it belongs to a defined space, and it is part of a culture that implies the cooperation of the individuals operating in that territory”. Jordana (2000) derived from this sociological definition the following: “In order to be traditional, a product must be linked to a territory and it must also be part of a set of traditions, which will necessarily ensure its continuity over time”. In 2006, the European Commission gave the following definition of “traditional” related to foods: “Traditional means proven usage in the Community market for a time period showing transmission between generations; this time period should be the one generally ascribed as one human generation, at least 25 years” (European Commission, 2006). Recently a definition of traditional food has been developed through the work of the EuroFIR Network of Excellence. This is an elaborative definition which includes statements about traditional ingredients, traditional composition and traditional type of production and/or processing (EuroFIR, 2007, Trichopoulou et al., 2007). In Europe the only formal definition found for “traditional food products” (TFP) comes from the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, that defines TFP as “Agrifood products whose methods of processing, storage and ripening are consolidated with time according to uniform and constant local use” (Ministero Agricoltura, 1999). From the consumers’ perspective, Guerrero et al. (2009) defined a traditional food product as “a product frequently consumed or associated with specific celebrations and/or seasons, normally transmitted from one generation to another, made accurately in a specific way according to the gastronomic heritage, with little or no processing/manipulation, distinguished and known because of its sensory properties and associated with a certain local area, region or country”.
Previous studies have focused on consumer preferences and behaviour toward “typical” products, such as Italian dry sausage (Conter et al., 2008), soppressata salami (Iaccarino, Di Monaco, Mincione, Cavella, & Masi, 2006), cheese (Kupiec & Revell, 1998) or honey (Sanzo, del Rio, Iglesias, & Vazquez, 2003). Furthermore, several studies have focused on consumer valuation of geographical indications and collective quality marks, which are often used on traditional food products. For example, van Ittersum, Meulenberg, van Trijp, & Candel (2007) concluded that consumers of regional products value regional certification labels. In contrast, Bonnet and Simioni (2001) concluded that it could not be taken for granted that consumers in general value the quality signal provided by a PDO label on branded Camembert cheese. Apart from valuation studies focusing on specific food products with a traditional character, no research has been conducted to investigate consumers’ motives for purchasing traditional foods as a product category, or to explore why traditional foods are appealing to consumers.
There is a large diversity in the production of traditional food in Europe, due to different climate conditions in the Northern and the Southern European countries. In general, two quite different cultural food systems have been profiled. First, the Northern European countries, where the range of foods traditionally produced was rather narrow; versus the Southern European countries, where this range and differentiation based on locality and tradition was rather wide (Jordana, 2000). According to Becker (2008) Southern European countries, such as Italy, Spain and France have a high number of collective quality marks, which can be regarded as possible candidates for a registration as a PDO or PGI. In contrast, Scandinavian and the Benelux countries have a very low number of collective quality marks. Hence, Southern European consumers are more likely to be confronted and to be familiar with traditional foods. Consequently, it is reasonable to observe and compare the factors influencing traditional food consumption across countries that differ in their cultural, geographical and gastronomic inheritance background, as has been demonstrated by, e.g. Askegaard and Madsen (1998).
The purpose of this study is twofold. First, this paper assesses and tests the cross-cultural validity of eight motives for food choice based on the Food Choice Questionnaire (Steptoe, Pollard, & Wardle, 1995) in six European countries: Belgium, France, Italy, Norway, Poland and Spain. These motives are weight control, price, ethical concern, convenience, natural content, health, sensory appeal, and familiarity. The second and more specific objective of the study is to investigate the association of these motives for food choice with the specific choice for traditional foods and attitudes toward traditional foods.
Section snippets
Research approach and sampling
Quantitative descriptive data were collected through a cross-sectional consumer survey with samples representative for age, gender and region in Belgium, France, Italy, Norway, Poland and Spain. The age range of the population was defined as 20–70 years. Total sample size was 4828 respondents, i.e. around 800 respondents in each of the six considered European countries. Participants were randomly selected from the representative TNS European Online Access Panel (Malhotra & Peterson, 2006) in
Discussion and conclusions
The first objective of this study was to assess and test cross-cultural validity of eight motives for food choice in six European countries: Belgium, France, Italy, Norway, Poland and Spain. The results indicate that the considered dimensions, i.e. weight control, price, ethical concern, convenience, natural content, health, sensory appeal, and familiarity, measured with the three items each as detailed in Table 3, have a similar meaning and similar structural characteristics across cultures
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