Profiling taste-motivated segments

Early adopters of unfamiliar, but nutritious foods can do so because of a combination of taste-motivations and health-motivations. Yet because taste can provide an enduring motivation for dietary change, profiling the taste-motivated segment of a particular food might prove useful in identifying and stimulating adoption among similar predisposed segments. This manuscript describes a basic qualitative and quantitative procedure—in the context of soy consumption—that can be used to begin profiling taste-motivated segments of a particular food. A survey of 606 North Americans indicates that when contrasted to health-motivated consumers of soy, taste-motivated consumers were more likely to claim they are opinion-leaders who live with (or who are) great cooks, and they were more likely to exhibit other behaviors associated with food appreciation, such as dining out and wine consumption. In light of these findings, instead of encouraging people to eat soy solely for health reasons, a more productive method may be to target those who are more likely to prefer it for taste-motivated reasons. This same method has potential for more effectively promoting the consumption of fruits and vegetables or the consumption of genetically enhanced foods among predisposed taste-motivated segments.