L. Guerrero*1, A. Claret1, M. Hersleth2, W. Verbeke3, C. Sulmont-Rossé4, S. Zakowska-Biemans5 et al.

1IRTA, Monells, Spain; 2Matforsk, Norwegian Food Research Institute, Norway; 3Ghent University, Belgium, 4INRA, UMR 1129 FLAVIC, F-21000 Dijon, France; 5Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland

Traditional food products (TFP) are to a large extent related to the European culture and gastronomic heritage. Despite the existence of some technical definitions of TFP, empirical knowledge about how European consumers perceive these products is still missing. The main aim of this study was to obtain and compare consumer-driven definitions of TFP in six European countries by means of a projective technique, namely Free Word Association.

A total of 721 consumers were recruited in Belgium (n=121), France (n=103), Italy (n=121), Norway (n=102), Poland (n=124) and Spain (n=150). Participants were selected by age, gender and by being involved in food shopping decision-making and food preparation at home. Consumers, who were individually interviewed, had to state the first words (maximum of 3) that came into their mind when the word “traditional” was verbally presented. Frequencies of occurrence were obtained and analysed by means of multivariate statistical techniques.

No gender or age differences were observed in the number of elicited words. The different word associations obtained were first subjectively classified in 55 families and then grouped in ten principal dimensions: Sensory - Health - Variety - Origin - Habit - Heritage - Special occasions - Simplicity - Elaboration - Marketing. Simple correspondence analysis and principal component analysis showed some differences among countries regarding both the relative and the absolute importance of each dimension. In general Mediterranean countries tended to associate TFP more frequently with abstract concepts such as heritage, culture or history. However, Polish and Norwegian consumers tended to focus mainly in practical issues such as convenience, health or appropriateness. Belgian showed an intermediate position. As a final outcome of the analyses, a consensus conceptual map of traditional food products was obtained. The empirical findings obtained from this exploratory study provide valuable insights for innovation and new developments in the traditional food market.