Food Neophobia: An Exploratory Study of Factors Influencing Unorthodox Food Consumption

Abstract

As 80% of the world eat insects regularly (Nothling, 2019) and a projected value of $8 billion by 2029 (Edwards and Ranasinghe 2019) this food is still considered an orthodox food choice. Asia Pacific holds the largest share of the market in the world (Meticulous Market Research Pty. Ltd. (2019), with exotic locations like Borneo, Thailand and Cambodia. Consumer perceptions of ethnic vs non ethnic food (i.e. specific to a particular culture, or country) have shown to influence consumer behavioural intentions (Jalis et al. 2014). The purpose of this research is to examine various factors that influence consumers’ behavioural intent to try unorthodox food; particularly the relationship between food familiarity and perception of the tourism destination image. For tourism destination marketing, some key issues are that while more exotic destinations are marketed, and younger consumers are willing to spend more whilst travelling, one of the major hindrances is the impact of neophobia on destination choice (Tourila et al. 2001), as there is a high propensity to ‘stick to what you know’ and avoid unfamiliar food. The research was limited to an Australian sample consisting of approximately 100 respondents. A convenience sampling method was employed and the data was collected using self-administered questionnaire, consisting of established scales. Findings indicate that consumers have a higher ntention to try unorthodox foods if they have higher familiarity with the food, a higher personal tendency to try new food and have positive perception about the specific country and food of that country itself. The significance of the research is twofold. Firstly, extending the research about neophobia within a tourism marketing context. Secondly, this research has implications for tourism destination operators and government promotion agencies. As this research identifies that building positive destination image and positive destination food image is important to influence consumer behavioural intent. Future studies could compare different samples of consumers, assess various personal antecedents or moderating factors and country cross comparisons and choice decision making could be employed to enrich the study.