2007 Volume 54 Issue 11 Pages 488-502
In our previous studies, 445 Japanese texture terms were collected through questionnaires completed by texture researchers and analyzed for consumer recognition. The present study investigated consumers' vocabulary for food texture according to gender, age and region using the data set. A 75% recognition criterion was used as the minimum level for consumers' vocabulary. Results indicated that females seemed to have a larger vocabulary for food texture than males. Younger consumers (junior high school students and 18-34 years old) had a smaller food texture vocabulary compared to middle-aged (35-49 years old), mature (50-64 years old) and elderly (over 65 years old) age groups. Consumers living in metropolitan areas seemed to have a larger food texture vocabulary than consumers in the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe area. Logistic regression analysis was used to test for significant differences in term recognition among demographic attribute groups. Results showed that recognition of terms such as “mottari” (sticky, viscous or glutinous), “burin-burin” (quivery or firm), “boso-boso” (dry and tasteless) differed according to consumer gender, age and/or region of residence. It was considered that several factors such as eating experience, food's boom, popular expressions and dialect could explain these differences.
