Food neophobia levels of Lebanese and American college students

Food neophobia, defined as the reluctance to eat novel foods, is a personality trait that influences everyday human food choices. The objectives of this work were first, to compare food neophobia levels among American and Lebanese college students (n = 1122), second to assess the effect of personal variables such as country of residence, socio-economic status (SES) on food neophobia levels, and third to examine the effect of food neophobia levels on the familiarity and willingness to try ratings of familiar and novel foods. Average food neophobia scale (FNS) score for all respondents was 33.1 ± 11.3. Differences on FNS scores were obtained between American (29.8) and Lebanese (36.4) students (P < 0.05). Number of trips taken outside the country, frequency of eating ethnic foods and history of sickness after eating a new food were significant (P < 0.05). Food neophilic subjects had higher familiarity and willingness to try scores for familiar and novel foods.