Pasta experience: Eating with the five senses—a pilot study

Luca Altamore; Marzia Ingrassia; Stefania Chironi; Pietro Columba; Giuseppe Sortino; Ana Vukadin; Simona Bacarella; Luca Altamore; Marzia Ingrassia; Stefania Chironi; Pietro Columba; Giuseppe Sortino; Ana Vukadin; Simona Bacarella

doi:10.3934/agrfood.2018.4.493

AIMS Agriculture and Food

2018, Volume 3, Issue 4: 493-520. doi: 10.3934/agrfood.2018.4.493

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Pasta experience: Eating with the five senses—a pilot study

1.
Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, Italy
2.
ESCP Europe, Paris, France
3.
Department of Economics, Business and Statistics, University of Palermo, Italy

Received: 14 August 2018 Accepted: 26 November 2018 Published: 30 November 2018

Dried pasta is the Italian food “par excellence”. Traditional foods have characteristics that can stimulate or evoke in the consumer sensorial stimuli and experiences, especially when these foods are consumed in a typical-traditional restaurant. Traditional restaurants can use sensory marketing as a promotional advantage, creating a unique and original atmosphere that can represent their main way of differentiation. The aims of this paper are to know consumer liking with regard to two high quality types of Sicilian pasta, common dried pasta, and whole-wheat pasta, consumed in three different venues of a typical-traditional Italian franchised restaurant, and to measure the influence of environmental factors of the venues on consumers’ acceptance. Results showed that consumers are able recognize when the atmosphere of a restaurant is integrated and consistent with the food on offer and they appreciate more the contexts wherein they find this coherence. Moreover, the high degree of quality of the two types of pasta tasted was recognized by consumers that appreciated its gustative equilibrium, confirming that the gustatory sensations are not affected by the context in which a food is consumed. Finally, the study highlighted the importance of Olfactory marketing to influence the evaluation of the customer on restaurant’s atmospherics.
- sensory marketing,
- traditional restaurant,
- sensory test,
- product congruence,
- atmosphere,
- quality food,
- consumer preferences,
- Focus Group
Citation: Luca Altamore, Marzia Ingrassia, Stefania Chironi, Pietro Columba, Giuseppe Sortino, Ana Vukadin, Simona Bacarella. Pasta experience: Eating with the five senses—a pilot study[J]. AIMS Agriculture and Food, 2018, 3(4): 493-520. doi: 10.3934/agrfood.2018.4.493

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Abstract

Dried pasta is the Italian food “par excellence”. Traditional foods have characteristics that can stimulate or evoke in the consumer sensorial stimuli and experiences, especially when these foods are consumed in a typical-traditional restaurant. Traditional restaurants can use sensory marketing as a promotional advantage, creating a unique and original atmosphere that can represent their main way of differentiation. The aims of this paper are to know consumer liking with regard to two high quality types of Sicilian pasta, common dried pasta, and whole-wheat pasta, consumed in three different venues of a typical-traditional Italian franchised restaurant, and to measure the influence of environmental factors of the venues on consumers’ acceptance. Results showed that consumers are able recognize when the atmosphere of a restaurant is integrated and consistent with the food on offer and they appreciate more the contexts wherein they find this coherence. Moreover, the high degree of quality of the two types of pasta tasted was recognized by consumers that appreciated its gustative equilibrium, confirming that the gustatory sensations are not affected by the context in which a food is consumed. Finally, the study highlighted the importance of Olfactory marketing to influence the evaluation of the customer on restaurant’s atmospherics.

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