| Abstrak/Abstract |
Technological development in traditional foods is not always in line with consumer acceptability. This study
aimed to determine consumer perception of selected Indonesian traditional food products in their original and
modernised versions. An internet-based survey (N = 310) was distributed to validate the perception of
Indonesian food products using pictures and descriptions. The participated respondents met these criteria: (1)
they were familiar with the traditional foods in this survey; and (2) they recognized and had used modernised
traditional foods in this survey at least once. Seventeen products (tempe usar, tempe ragi, hygienic tempe,
homemade sambal, sambal in a jar, sambal sprinkles, fresh coconut milk, UHT coconut milk, coconut milk
powder, gudeg kendil, gudeg besek, boxed gudeg, canned gudeg, ground seasoning, instant seasoning paste, dadih,
and yoghurt), were described to gauge consumer perception of the following variables: Modern, Traditional,
Original, Authentic, Natural and Hedonic response. Partial Least Square Regression was performed to generate
an overview of the product and variable variation. The results showed that the variable Modern was inversely
correlated with the remaining variables, including the Hedonic response. The UHT coconut milk, coconut milk
powder, instant seasoning paste, canned gudeg, sambal in a jar, sambal sprinkles, yoghurt, and hygienic tempe
were perceived as the most Modern. In contrast, products that were perceived as Traditional were more preferred, including homemade sambal, ground seasoning, gudeg kendil, gudeg besek, tempe usar, and fresh coconut
milk. This study shows the effect of modernisation on consumer perception and how it correlates to overall
liking. Consumers' background psychographics such as the Food Neophobia Scale and attitude towards traditional food (ATTF) questionnaire have a significant effect on product perceptions, especially to the variables
Hedonic, Modern, Authentic and Original. |
