Food neophobia and willingness to try non-traditional foods for Koreans

Non-traditional ethnic foods are a new category of foods that have not been experienced by consumers. The objective of this study was to investigate the attitudes of consumers toward the familiarity and willingness to try non-traditional foods by food neophobia level, as well as to determine the relationship between non-traditional ethnic food experiences and food neophobia in Korea. Food neophobia was measured by the Food Neophobia Scale (FNS). The mean FNS score among Koreans was 33.5 (SD = 9.0). The high food neophobia group was less likely to have experiences with non-traditional foods in comparison to the low food neophobia group. Food neophobia significantly predicted the familiarity and willingness to try various non-traditional ethnic foods. Among the 12 non-traditional ethnic foods, the participants had the least familiarity and willingness to try African and Mongolian foods. In terms of the level of willingness, Vietnamese, Indian, Thai, Mexican, Turkish, Greek, Mongolian, African, Japanese and Italian foods showed significant differences among the food neophobia groups but Chinese and American foods did not. This study was a first and meaningful attempt to validate FNS in Asia for the delineation of consumer responses of various non-traditional food products.

► The mean FNS score among Koreans was 33.5 (SD = 9.0).
► We explored the factor structure of the FNS and the items loaded on two factors.
► Neophilics had tried non-traditional food restaurants more often than neophobics.
► We assessed the FNS on familiarity and willingness to try non-traditional foods.
► FNS negatively correlated on familiarity and willingness to try non-traditional foods.