Appearances and images of foods and dishes affect one's preferences and choices, and consequently their nutritional status.
In this study, the appearances and images of foods and their inter-relationship were studied on women aged twelve and older.
Seven protein-rich foods (beef, pork, chicken, fish, egg, milk and tofu-bean curd) and 12 dishes made from them were selected for the questionnaire. The images were evaluated by semantic differential method, using 7-point scale on 8 pairs of stimuli words. The following results were obtained.
1) Points of preferences based on images of 7 food items were high and distributed between 4.7 and 5.4. The most preferred item was beef characterized as “expensive” and “luxury”, followed by tofu-bean curd as “Japanese” and “cheap”.
2) Younger generation preferred meat and western style dishes, while older generation preferred tofu-bean curd, fish and Japanese style dishes.
3) The widely accepted theory that people in Kanto district prefer pork to beef while those in Kansai district prefer beef wasn't supported; people in Kanto district preferred beef to pork and had higher image.
4) No significant regional differences were observed in the image of “inexpensive” and “handy” given to tofu, egg and milk, suggesting that they were considered daily foods.
5) As for the images for 12 dishes, high correlation between “family dish-dish for guest” and “modest-luxurious” was observed, suggesting a significant influence of financial factor. However, the correlation between “family dish-dish for guest” and “modest-luxurious” was polarized between the generation aged 29 and younger (0.048) and the that aged 30 and older (0.774-0.859), suggesting a generation gap in dietary life.
6) As for the relationship between the images of a material and dishes prepared from them, the image pattern for meat and meat dishes were similar, while that for fish and tofu differed depending on the method of cooking.
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