Is it possible to obtain food consumption information through children's drawings? Comparison with the Free Listing

Is the Term "Food Consistency" Used Consistently in Consumer Science? An Exploratory Study of Consumer Association and Conceptualization

The post-pandemic context has changed the modes for collecting data in sensory and consumer science. The objectives of this research were to analyze consumers' associations of food consistency and to study two virtual modes of the Free Word Association test (FWA). This test was administered to 209 consumers (180 women, 29 men, 18-45 years old) asynchronously (i.e. self-administered) and synchronously (i.e. face to face interviews). The Cognitive Salience Index (CSI) was calculated, and the structure of the social representation was analyzed. Correspondence analysis showed that food consistency was a mixture of concepts related to structure, hardness and several aspects of auditory (e.g., Crunchy, Crispy), tactile (e.g. Smooth, Spreadable) and oral texture (e.g., Creamy, Gummy). Slightly consistent food was associated with something soft, liquid or semisolid, and very consistent food to something hard and resistant. Consistent food was more related to "very" than to "slightly consistent." The CSI depended on the stimulus presented (p < 0.05). Regarding the social representation structure, the central core had the highest CSI for all stimuli (CSI ≥ 0.13, p < 0.05). Consumers defined "very consistent, consistent and slightly consistent food" by naming more foods in the synchronous mode than in the asynchronous one. In the asynchronous mode, consumers took more time to complete the test. The virtual FWA test (asynchronous or synchronous) showed some differences in the associations of term consistency, due to the lack of spontaneity in the first minute. It is important to adjust the methodologies to standardize the times in both modes.

Free Drawing to assess food consumption information in comparison with the Free Listing: An intracultural study in Brazil with adolescents and dairy products

This study aimed to evaluate the Free Drawing method to assess food consumption information compared to the Free Listing method. Furthermore, the citation frequencies of dairy products consumed by adolescents were compared in Brazilian regions. Adolescents (14-17 years old, n = 265, n = 53 for each region, North, South, Northeast, Midwest, and Southeast regions) listed or drew the dairy products they consumed using Free Listing or Free Drawing. The contingency tables were constructed, and the cognitive saliency indexes (CSI) were calculated. Multiple Factor Analysis (MFA) was performed, and the RV indices were determined. The adolescents listed/drew 55 dairy products, grouped into 10 categories. The Free Listing method resulted in greater citation frequencies of dairy products. The Free Drawing method resulted in richer and more detailed information, with specifications of the type of product consumed within the category, flavor, type of packaging, and brand. The dairy products with the highest citation frequencies/CSI by adolescents were milk, cheese, and fermented milk. The South and Southeast regions observed greater citation frequencies and diversity of dairy products (prevalence in 6 categories). The CSI did not depend on the method, but it was affected by the region (p < 0.05). The sensory methods showed high similarity considering the categories of dairy products (RV = 0.80) and regions (RV = 0.79). It is concluded that the Free Drawing method proved to be an alternative to Free Listing for evaluating adolescents' consumption information of dairy products in an intracultural study in Brazil.