The effects of name and recipe on the perceived ethnicity and acceptability of selected Italian foods by British subjects

Abstract

Tomato sauce, meat, cheese, and butter (recipe variable), and product names (name variable) from four pasta samples were manipulated to study their effects on the ratings of perceived ethnicity and acceptability by British subjects. The addition of an Italian name significantly increased perceived Italian ethnicity and lowered British ethnicity. Adding meat and/or cheese increased British ethnicity. Changing recipes was more effective than adding Italian names for increasing hedonic responses for these items. The development of a perceived ethnicity scale for use in studies of ethnic food identification is discussed.