Attitudes of consumers from different cultures towards traditional turkish desserts: The effect of food neophobia on these attitudes

The diverse eating and drinking habits of different cultures often bring about biases among individuals belonging to these cultures. Prejudices toward the foods of other cultures result in food neophobia, while the desire to explore and experience new cultures leads to food neophilia. This study aims to measure the level of cross-cultural acceptance. A quantitative method was adopted for the research. In the first phase of the two-stage study, a survey assessing the levels of food neophobia and neophilia was conducted with 69 participants working in the tourism and gastronomy sectors in Pittsburgh, USA, who came from diverse cultural backgrounds. In the second phase, the same 69 participants were subjected to a preference test involving classic Turkish desserts: pumpkin dessert (kabak tatlısı), milk pudding with a caramelized bottom (kazandibi), and kunefe (künefe). The research was conducted between September 16, 2024, and October 18, 2024. The SPSS-25 software package was used to analyze the survey and the taste test. In the preference ranking from the taste test conducted in the second phase of the study, pumpkin dessert (kabak tatlısı) was the most liked, followed by künefe, while kazandibi was the least liked. According to the results of the t-test, a statistically significant difference was observed only in the general evaluations of pumpkin dessert between individuals with food neophobia and those with food neophilia regarding the three desserts tasted. The exploratory factor analysis conducted to determine the validity of the survey revealed that the scale was valid. For reliability, the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient of the scale was calculated as 0.914. Since the obtained value is above the coefficient threshold of 0.70, the scale is considered reliable.