Food Neophobia Among Tourism Students

Year 2020, Volume: 24 Issue: 2, 349 - 362, 31.12.2020

Sevda Sahilli Birdir , Nurhayat İflazoğlu Kemal Birdir

Abstract

Rejection of novelty in neo-psychology is called neophobia which is mean fear of innovation. Food neophobia
expresses reluctance of people to consume new or unusual foods based on their culture and current diet. The
present study aimed to evaluate the extent to which undergraduate students (at Mersin University’s Faculty of
Tourism) experience food neophobia. The Food Neophobia Scale is used to measure the fear of new foods. A faceto-face Turkish questionnaire was applied to 370 undergraduate students consisting of three departments
(Department of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts, Department of Tourism Management, and Department of Tourism
Guidance) with method of convenience sampling. The data were analyzed through t-test, Anova and factor
analysis. It was determined that in general students' food neophabia level was neutral. On the basis of
department, it was found that Gastronomy and Culinary Arts’ students were the most open in trying new food,
whereas students of the Tourism Guidance department were found to be the most food neophobic. On the other
hand, no significant difference was found between the “food neophobia” and “gender” and “marital status”.
According to the analysis of students' attitudes towards new foods, it was determined that students were not
open to trying ethnic foods 

Keywords

Faculty of Tourism, Food Neophobia, Attitude, Student

Turizm Öğrencileri Arasında Yeni Yiyecek Deneme Korkusu

Abstract

Neo-psikolojide yeniliğin reddedilmesi, yenilik korkusu olan neofobi olarak adlandırılır. Gıda neofobisi, insanların
kültürlerine ve mevcut diyetlerine dayanarak yeni veya sıra dışı yiyecekleri tüketme isteksizliğini ifade eder. Bu
çalışma, lisans öğrencilerinin (Mersin Üniversitesi Turizm Fakültesi'nde) gıda neofobisini ne ölçüde
deneyimlediklerini değerlendirmeyi amaçlamıştır. Gıda Neofobi Ölçeği, yeni gıdaların korkusunu ölçmek için
kullanılır. Kolayda örnekleme yöntemi ile üç bölümden (Gastronomi ve Mutfak Sanatları Bölümü, Turizm Yönetimi
Bölümü ve Turizm Rehberliği Bölümü) oluşan 370 lisans öğrencisine yüz yüze Türkçe anket uygulanmıştır. Veriler ttesti, Anova ve faktör analizi ile analiz edilmiştir. Genel olarak öğrencilerin gıda neofobi düzeyinin nötr olduğu belirlenmiştir. Bölüm temelinde, Gastronomi ve Mutfak Sanatları öğrencilerinin yeni yiyecek denemede en açık
oldukları, Turizm Rehberliği bölümü öğrencilerinin ise en fazla gıda neofobisi olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Öte yandan,
“gıda neofobisi” ile “cinsiyet” ve “medeni durum” arasında anlamlı bir fark bulunmamıştır. Öğrencilerin yeni
gıdalara karşı tutumlarının analizine göre, öğrencilerin etnik gıdaları denemeye açık olmadığı belirlenmiştir. 

Keywords

Turizm Fakültesi, Gıda Neophobisi, Tutum, Öğrenci

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