Undergraduate students (n=78) who were born in the 1990s, people in their forties (n=100) who were born around 1970, and people in their sixties (n=100) who were born around 1950, completed questionnaires responding to whether various dishes would be considered "homemade.” The dishes presented to the participants differed by the extent to which pre-prepared food was utilized, for example, "somebody bought fully-cooked pasta and served it without even transferring the food to a plate,” "somebody bought fully-cooked pasta, warmed it up in the microwave, and served it after transferring it to a plate,” "somebody bought dried pasta, boiled it, added sauce they had purchased, and served it,” and "somebody bought dried pasta, boiled it, cooked pasta sauce with sausage and onions, and served it.” The results were summed up as follows. First, younger people were more likely to judge the dishes that utilized pre-prepared foods such as a frozen or pre-packaged food products to a certain degree as "homemade.” In contrast, older people were more resistant to judge such convenience-oriented cooked dishes as "homemade.” Second, the participants’ judgments of "homemade” differed by their experiences of how often they have eaten meals at home. People with more meals at home experiences were more likely to judge dishes that utilized more pre-prepared food as "homemade,” while people with more eating out experiences when they were children, were less likely to suppose ready-made meal as "homemade.”
