Collection and Analysis of Foods Associated with Japanese Texture Terms

Abstract

In our earlier studies, 445 Japanese texture terms were collected from questionnaires administered to food scientists/technologists and interviews with texture researchers. In the present study, foods associated with the 445 Japanese texture terms were collected and analyzed. Terms that have the same meaning but are represented by different Chinese characters and onomatopoeic words that are derived from the same sound were classified into same term groups. A total of 271 term groups were formed in the study. Eighteen trained descriptive panelists were asked to write down food items associated with each term group. As a result, a comprehensive pool of 935 kinds of food associated with the texture terms was developed, and the data was submitted for correspondence analysis to understand the structure of Japanese texture vocabulary. The dimension 1 contrasts fracture versus fluidity terms. The dimension 2 can be interpreted as the axis related to fluffiness and airiness. The data obtained in this study can be applied to preliminary lexicon sources of descriptive sensory evaluation and can provide useful clues to the international understanding of Japanese texture terms.