Department of Food and Nutrition, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea.
Applied Mathematics, Agrocampus Ouest, Rennes, France.
Food Res Int. 2018 Mar;105:970-981. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2017.12.002. Epub 2017 Dec 5.
Cross-cultural communication of "nuttiness" can be problematic because the underlying conceptual elements and words used to describe its features may be largely culture-dependent. The present study was conducted to understand similarities and dissimilarities in the concept of nuttiness and its actual perception in our model food system, soymilk, among similar (Korean and Chinese) and dissimilar (Western) food cultures. In total, 110 Koreans, 103 Chinese, and 93 English-speaking, Western consumers were recruited. Subjects were asked to provide a definition of nuttiness and generate examples of nutty and non-nutty foods. They also rated the intensity of the nuttiness of 8 soymilk samples. Sensory profiles of 8 soymilk samples were obtained using 9 trained panelists. Data from the definition task were processed through textual analysis. To identify sensory drivers, consumer ratings of perceived nuttiness intensity in soymilk were projected onto a sensory space constructed from the descriptive profiles of nuttiness. We found significant association between culture and usage of specific words (χ=155.8, p<0.001). For example, whereas the concept of nuttiness in the Korean group involved sensory experiences evoked by sesame, roasted, proteic, or fatty foods, in Westerners, it was more nut-oriented. In contrast, the Chinese group associated nuttiness with general characteristics and hedonic dimensions such as good and comfort, rather than with specific foods. However, sensory drivers of nuttiness in soymilk were consistent across cultures. We found that although the abstract definition of nuttiness clearly demonstrated cross-cultural differences, sensory perception of nuttiness was almost identical across all groups. This suggests that cultural background influences verbalization of one's perception, but not the actual perception itself.
“坚果味”的跨文化交流可能会出现问题，因为描述其特征的潜在概念元素和用词在很大程度上可能取决于文化。本研究旨在了解在我们的模型食品体系（豆浆）中，类似（韩国和中国）和不同（西方）饮食文化中，“坚果味”的概念及其实际感知的异同。共有 110 名韩国人、103 名中国人和 93 名讲英语的西方消费者参与了研究。要求受试者给出“坚果味”的定义并列举坚果味和非坚果味的食物示例，同时对 8 种豆浆样本的坚果味强度进行评分。使用 9 名经过培训的品尝员获取 8 种豆浆样本的感官特征描述。通过文本分析处理定义任务的数据。为了确定感官驱动因素，将消费者对豆浆中感知到的坚果味强度的评分投影到由坚果味描述性特征构建的感官空间上。我们发现文化和特定用词的使用之间存在显著关联（χ²=155.8，p<0.001）。例如，韩国组的“坚果味”概念涉及芝麻、烘烤、蛋白质或脂肪类食物引起的感官体验，而在西方人眼中，“坚果味”更偏向于坚果本身。相比之下，中国人将“坚果味”与一般特征和愉悦维度联系起来，例如好的和舒适的，而不是与特定的食物联系起来。然而，豆浆中“坚果味”的感官驱动因素在不同文化中是一致的。我们发现，尽管“坚果味”的抽象定义清楚地表明了跨文化差异，但不同群体对“坚果味”的感官感知几乎是相同的。这表明文化背景会影响对感知的描述方式，但不会影响实际的感知本身。
