Appetite 53 (2009) 101–108

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Appetite
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Research report

Association between traditional food consumption and motives for food choice in
six European countries
Zuzanna Pieniak a,*, Wim Verbeke a, Filiep Vanhonacker a, Luis Guerrero b, Margrethe Hersleth c
a
Department of Agricultural Economics; Ghent University, Coupure links 653, 9000 Gent, Belgium
b
IRTA–Monells, Finca Camps i Armet, E-17121 Monells, Spain
c
Nofima Food, Matforsk AS, Osloveien 1, 1430 Ås, Norway

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: This study investigates the association between traditional food consumption and motives for food
Received 25 September 2008 choice in six European countries. Cross-sectional data were collected through the TRUEFOOD pan-
Received in revised form 13 May 2009 European consumer survey (n = 4828) with samples representative for age, gender and region in
Accepted 24 May 2009
Belgium, France, Italy, Norway, Poland and Spain. Importance attached to familiarity with a product is
found to be strongly and positively associated with general attitude toward traditional food as well as
Keywords: traditional food consumption. The importance attached to convenience was negatively related to both
Traditional food
general attitude toward traditional food and traditional food consumption, while the importance of
Consumer
Motives
weight control negatively influenced the general attitude. Natural content of food was positively
Food Choice Questionnaire associated with the attitude toward traditional food and traditional food consumption. The importance
Structural equation modelling of price when purchasing food failed to be significantly related with general attitude and traditional food
consumption both for the pooled sample as well as within each country except in Spain. The proposed
model contributes to a better understanding of factors shaping the image and influencing the
consumption of traditional foods in Europe. General attitude toward traditional foods, familiarity, and
importance of food naturalness emerged as drivers for traditional food consumption. Importance
attached to convenience and health acted as direct barriers to traditional food consumption, whereas
importance of weight control emerged as an indirect barrier through lowering general attitude toward
traditional foods.
ß 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction been defined as foods that are differentiated through particular

In the last years there has been an increased interest in foods
that are linked with a place or region of origin (Kuznesof, Tregear, &
Moxey, 1997; Verbeke & Roosen, 2009). Consumers increasingly
demand local food and foods with a traditional character or image,
which are often perceived as higher quality (Chambers, Lobb,
Butler, Harvey, & Traill, 2007; Fandos & Flavian, 2006) and more
sustainable foods (Asebo, Jervell, Lieblein, Svennerud, & Francis,
2007; Risku-Norja, Hietala, Virtanen, Ketomaki, & Helenius, 2008)
that fulfil a need for cultural identity and ethnocentrism
(Chambers et al., 2007; Chryssochoidis, Krystallis, & Perreas,
2007; Vermeir & Verbeke, 2008). Traditional foods, which have
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: zuzanna.pieniak@ugent.be (Z. Pieniak),
wim.verbeke@ugent.be (W. Verbeke), filiep.vanhonacker@ugent.be
(F. Vanhonacker), Lluis.Guerrero@irta.cat (L. Guerrero),
margrethe.hersleth@nofima.no (M. Hersleth).
qualitative aspects and have a specific cultural identity (Jordana,
2000), fit with the aforementioned evolution. Besides their
growing appeal among consumers, traditional food products have
received increasing policy support, in particular in the European
Union. The EU Regulations 2081/92 and 2082/92 of 14 July 1992
have defined the standards for a designation under different
collective trademarks: Protected Designation of Origin (PDO),
Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), or Traditional Specialities
Guaranteed (TSG) to a food product. These collective trademarks
give producers the opportunity to promote their products and
differentiate them on the market (Kuznesof et al., 1997). As a result
of the policy and market interest, traditional foods have become
increasingly attractive from an industry perspective, especially for
small and medium sized enterprises. Emphasising product
attributes generated by regional characteristics of the manufac-
turing area or by the use of traditional production practices creates
new opportunities for marketers (Skuras & Vakrou, 2002). More-
over, cultivation of local raw materials and ingredients, which are
mostly used in the production of traditional foods, contributes to a

0195-6663/$ – see front matter ß 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.appet.2009.05.019
102 Z. Pieniak et al. / Appetite 53 (2009) 101–108
Fig. 1. Hypothetical model linking motives for food choice with attitude and
behaviour toward traditional foods.
more sustainable environment and employment of local people in
rural areas (Trichopoulou, Vasilopoulou, Georga, Soukara, & Dilis,
2006) (Fig. 1).
According to Bertozzi (1998) a traditional food product is a
‘‘representation of a group, it belongs to a defined space, and it is
part of a culture that implies the cooperation of the individuals
operating in that territory’’. Jordana (2000) derived from this
sociological definition the following: ‘‘In order to be traditional, a
product must be linked to a territory and it must also be part of a
set of traditions, which will necessarily ensure its continuity over
time’’. In 2006, the European Commission gave the following
definition of ‘‘traditional’’ related to foods: ‘‘Traditional means
proven usage in the Community market for a time period showing
transmission between generations; this time period should be the
one generally ascribed as one human generation, at least 25 years’’
(European Commission, 2006). Recently a definition of traditional
food has been developed through the work of the EuroFIR Network
of Excellence. This is an elaborative definition which includes
statements about traditional ingredients, traditional composition
and traditional type of production and/or processing (EuroFIR,
2007; Trichopoulou, Soukara, & Vasilopoulou, 2007). In Europe the
only formal definition found for ‘‘traditional food products’’ (TFP)
comes from the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, that defines TFP as
‘‘Agrifood products whose methods of processing, storage and
ripening are consolidated with time according to uniform and
constant local use’’ (Ministero Agricoltura, 1999). From the
consumers’ perspective, Guerrero et al. (2009) defined a traditional
food product as ‘‘a product frequently consumed or associated with
specific celebrations and/or seasons, normally transmitted from
one generation to another, made accurately in a specific way
according to the gastronomic heritage, with little or no processing/
manipulation, distinguished and known because of its sensory
properties and associated with a certain local area, region or
country’’.
Previous studies have focused on consumer preferences and
behaviour toward ‘‘typical’’ products, such as Italian dry sausage
(Conter et al., 2008), soppressata salami (Iaccarino, Di Monaco,
Mincione, Cavella, & Masi, 2006), cheese (Kupiec & Revell, 1998) or
honey (Sanzo, del Rio, Iglesias, & Vazquez, 2003). Furthermore,
several studies have focused on consumer valuation of geogra-
phical indications and collective quality marks, which are often
used on traditional food products. For example, van Ittersum,
Meulenberg, van Trijp, & Candel (2007) concluded that consumers
of regional products value regional certification labels. In contrast,
Bonnet and Simioni (2001) concluded that it could not be taken for
granted that consumers in general value the quality signal
provided by a PDO label on branded Camembert cheese. Apart
from valuation studies focusing on specific food products with a
traditional character, no research has been conducted to investi-
gate consumers’ motives for purchasing traditional foods as a
product category, or to explore why traditional foods are appealing
to consumers.
There is a large diversity in the production of traditional food in
Europe, due to different climate conditions in the Northern and the
Southern European countries. In general, two quite different
cultural food systems have been profiled. First, the Northern
European countries, where the range of foods traditionally
produced was rather narrow; versus the Southern European
countries, where this range and differentiation based on locality
and tradition was rather wide (Jordana, 2000). According to Becker
(2008) Southern European countries, such as Italy, Spain and
France have a high number of collective quality marks, which can
be regarded as possible candidates for a registration as a PDO or
PGI. In contrast, Scandinavian and the Benelux countries have a
very low number of collective quality marks. Hence, Southern
European consumers are more likely to be confronted and to be
familiar with traditional foods. Consequently, it is reasonable to
observe and compare the factors influencing traditional food
consumption across countries that differ in their cultural,
geographical and gastronomic inheritance background, as has
been demonstrated by, e.g. Askegaard and Madsen (1998).
The purpose of this study is twofold. First, this paper assesses
and tests the cross-cultural validity of eight motives for food choice
based on the Food Choice Questionnaire (Steptoe, Pollard, &
Wardle, 1995) in six European countries: Belgium, France, Italy,
Norway, Poland and Spain. These motives are weight control, price,
ethical concern, convenience, natural content, health, sensory
appeal, and familiarity. The second and more specific objective of
the study is to investigate the association of these motives for food
choice with the specific choice for traditional foods and attitudes
toward traditional foods.
Materials and methods
Research approach and sampling
Quantitative descriptive data were collected through a cross-
sectional consumer survey with samples representative for age,
gender and region in Belgium, France, Italy, Norway, Poland and
Spain. The age range of the population was defined as 20–70 years.
Total sample size was 4828 respondents, i.e. around 800
respondents in each of the six considered European countries.
Participants were randomly selected from the representative TNS
European Online Access Panel (Malhotra & Peterson, 2006) in line
with the national population distributions with respect to age,
gender and region. Such panels consist of individuals who have
been recruited through off-line recruitment methods (e.g. random
walk or street contact procedures) and who agreed to take part in
future surveys. All contact and questionnaire administration
procedures were electronic. Data collection was performed during
the period from October 25 until November 9, 2007.
Detailed socio-demographic characteristics of the national and
pooled samples are provided in Table 1. Gender is equally
distributed, which reflects that the population was intentionally
not restricted to the main responsible person for food purchasing.
Age distributions, mean age and mean household sizes match
closely with the national census data of the respective countries.
Table 1 also presents a proxy of socio-economic class, which was a
subjective assessment of the household’s financial situation given
on a 7-point interval scale ranging from ‘‘difficult’’ to ‘‘well off’’.
Although this subjective measure may not necessarily reflect the
 Z. Pieniak et al. / Appetite 53 (2009) 101–108 103

Table 1
Selected socio-demographic characteristics of the samples.

Pooled sample (n = 4828) Norway (n = 798) Belgium (n = 826) France (n = 801) Spain (n = 800) Italy (n = 800) Poland (n = 803)

Gender (%)
Female 49.2 49.1 49.4 51.9 47.4 47.3 50.2
Male 50.8 50.9 50.6 48.1 52.6 52.7 49.8

Age (years)
<35 34.1 34.1 28.5 33.7 35.5 35.0 37.9
35–55 46.4 47.5 46.4 46.4 47.4 45.8 44.8
>55 19.5 18.4 25.1 19.9 17.1 19.2 17.3

Mean 41.5 41.4 43.7 41.4 40.7 41.2 40.6

S.D. 12.8 12.5 13.3 12.8 12.3 12.8 12.8

Household size (number)

Mean 2.9 2.6 2.7 2.7 3.1 3.2 3.0
S.D. 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.4

Financial situation (%)

Difficult–moderate 24.6 24.8 17.8 35.5 18.9 29.8 21.3
Moderate 32.1 31.5 28.6 32.5 36.2 32.8 31.0
Moderate–well off 43.3 43.7 53.6 32.0 44.9 37.4 47.7

actual financial situation of the households, its distribution reveals
that different socio-economic classes are well represented in the
sample. It should be noted that about half of the sample (52.6%)
received education beyond the age of 18 years (high school or
university), while 47.4% had a lower level of education (primary or
secondary school education). The sample is herewith slightly
biased towards higher education, which may be attributed to the
use of an electronic survey method.
Questionnaire content and pre-testing
Participants were asked to complete a self-administered
structured electronic questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted
of five sections: (1) behavioural and attitudinal items relating to
food purchasing in general, (2) items probing for consumers’
definition, attitude and perceptions of traditional foods, (3)
consumer awareness of and associations with quality and origin
labels, (4) items probing for consumer’s definition and acceptance
of innovations in traditional food products, and (5) personal data
relating to lifestyle and general interests, and socio-demographics.
The questionnaire development was based on the output of a
comprehensive qualitative research task about traditional food
performed in the six named countries (Guerrero et al., 2009). The
focus of this paper is on assessing the association of motives
relating to food purchasing in general (as covered in the first
section of the questionnaire) with traditional food consumption.
The master questionnaire was developed in English and
translated in the national languages using the procedure of
back-translation (Brislin, 1970; Maneesriwongul & Dixon, 2004).
Following back-translation, the questionnaire was extensively pre-
tested by the researchers through personal interviews with 15–20
respondents in each of the countries in order to identify and
eliminate potential problems and to ensure linguistic equivalence.
Fieldwork started after editing, correcting, electronic program-
ming and additional pre-testing of the electronic version of the
questionnaire. The average time for completing the total ques-
tionnaire ranged from 290 3300 in France to 330 3600 in Poland.
Measurement and scaling
Potential motives for choosing food were almost entirely based
on the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) as described by Steptoe
et al. (1995). Only the most appropriate and relevant items for the
case of traditional food were included. The selection of items was
based on findings from exploratory focus group discussions
(Guerrero et al., 2009) and literature review. For example, the
mood FCQ dimension was not included in the questionnaire. As a
result, eight dimensions were included, namely weight control,
price, ethical concern, convenience, natural content, health,
sensory appeal, and familiarity. Respondents were asked to
endorse the statement ‘‘It is important to me that food I eat on
a typical weekday . . .’’ (see Table 3) for each of the 24 items (three
items per dimension) by scoring on a 7-point scale ranging from
‘‘not important at all’’ (1) to ‘‘extremely important’’ (7).
General attitude toward traditional food was measured using
three items that were scored on 7-point semantic differential
scales. Respondents were presented with the statement ‘‘Please
indicate which word best describes how you feel when you eat
traditional food’’. The bipolar adjectives were unhappy/happy,
dull/exiting, and terrible/delightful. These items have previously
been used to assess general attitude in both marketing (e.g.
Stayman & Batra, 1991) and food consumption behaviour studies
(e.g. Sparks & Guthrie, 1998).
Traditional food consumption was a self-reported single item
measure: ‘‘To what extent do you consider yourself a consumer of
traditional food?’’ on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from ‘‘very
much’’ (7) to ‘‘not at all’’ (1).
Statistical analyses
Completed questionnaires were edited by the field research
agency in order to ensure accuracy and precision of the response
prior to coding and transcription of the data in SPSS 15.0 format.
Given the large sample sizes and very low numbers of missing
responses, pairwise deletion was used as the method for treating
missing values. In line with the first objective of our study, six
multi-group confirmatory factor analysis models were estimated
following the procedure recommended by Steenkamp and
Baumgartner (1998), and using the robust maximum likelihood
procedure in LISREL 8.72 in a stepwise approach, with each country
representing one group. Next, a maximum likelihood confirmatory
factor analysis on the pooled sample (exploring discriminant and
convergent validity) was performed. In order to meet the second
objective of the study, structural equations model parameters have
been estimated and the general fit of the model has been assessed
by means of LISREL 8.72. With the use of structural equation
modelling (SEM), the examination of all the relationships between
constructs and items is performed simultaneously, which is a
substantial advantage compared with single equation modelling
(Bollen, 1989). Due to the large sample size the x2 may not be the
104 Z. Pieniak et al. / Appetite 53 (2009) 101–108
Table 2
Results from measurement invariance analysis.
Model Constraints added Satorra–Bentler x2
Configural Baseline—no constraints 7279.15
Metric invariance Factor loadings 7836.01
Scalar invariance Item intercepts 10368.78
Factor variance invariance Factor covariance and factor variance 12029.23
Error variance invariance Measurement error 14206.65
Identity Latent factor means 16454.3
most appropriate measure of goodness-of-fit (Browne & Cudeck,
1993). Therefore, three other indices will be reported: the Root
Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA), the goodness-of-fit
index (GFI) and the Comparative Fit Index (CFI). Values below 0.08
for RMSEA (Browne & Cudeck, 1993) and above 0.90 for GFI and CFI
(Bollen, 1989) suggest an acceptable fit of the model.
Measurement invariance
The present data were collected in six different European
countries, which implies some concerns related to the cross-
cultural validity of the collected information. In order to test
whether the psychometric characteristics of the measures are
stable across the six countries a measurement invariance analysis
was conducted through a stepwise multi-group confirmatory
factor analysis (Steenkamp & Baumgartner, 1998). Each step
constrained a particular matrix to be equal across all groups. Each
restricted model has been nested within a less restricted one. This
procedure allows comparing models statistically using the
difference in the x2 statistics, degrees of freedom, as well as other
goodness-of-fit parameters (see Table 2). Although the samples
involved in the analysis were so large that the Satorra–Bentler x2
was significant at every step, the RMSEA values indicated
acceptable fit for the first five models reported in Table 2 and a
tentatively acceptable fit for the identity model (RMSEA = 0.084,
NNFI = 0.94, CFI = 0.95). These findings indicate that the psycho-
metric characteristics of the measures were invariant across the
six-country specific samples. Specifically, configural invariance
implies that participants belonging to different groups, or
countries in this particular study, conceptualise constructs in
the same way; thus that the same underlying constructs are
measured in all involved countries. Metric invariance has also been
supported, meaning that the observed variables (i.e. motives and
barriers for traditional food consumption) are measured according
to the same scale units. Thus, there is conceptual agreement in
terms of the type and the number of underlying constructs as well
as the degree to which items are associated with each construct.
Furthermore, the measurement model showed scalar invariance,
meaning that the observed variables are measured on common
interval scales across groups, i.e. according to the same scale units
and scale locations. Factor covariance invariance indicates that the
constructs measured using the FCQ items have the same
interrelationships across countries. Factor variance invariance
indicates that the constructs measured by the FCQ have the same
variability across countries. Error variance invariance indicates
that item reliabilities are the same across the samples. Finally,
identity implies that the means of the underlying constructs are
the same across the samples.
Rungtusanatham, Ng, Zhao, & Lee (2008) as well as Steenkamp
and Baumgartner (1998) recommended pooling data only if all
sub-dimensions of measurement invariance are satisfied for all
measures. In this study, the identity model suggests only a
tentatively acceptable fit. The RMSEA is close to acceptable fit
below 0.08, and the other fit statistics are acceptable. However,
other studies (Olsen, Scholderer, Brunso, & Verbeke, 2007;
df RMSEA NNFI CFI Dx2 Ddf
1842 0.061 0.975 0.98
1932 0.062 0.974 0.978 556.86 90
2017 0.072 0.965 0.969 2532.77 85
2292 0.073 0.965 0.964 1660.45 275
2427 0.077 0.959 0.957 2177.42 135
2477 0.084 0.94 0.949 2247.65 50
Scholderer, Grunert, & Brunsø, 2005) suggest that scalar invariance
suffices for pooling the data. Following the latter studies, and
considering that the identity model is not very clearly rejected by
the data, pooling of data is still an option.
Confirmatory factor analysis and construct validity
Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to determine
whether the construct measures actually converge the intended
latent variable or share a high proportion of variance in common
(convergent validity) and whether the constructs are distinct from
each other (discriminant validity). In order to assess convergent
validity, the procedures suggested by Hair, Black, Babin, Anderson,
& Tatham (2006) have been followed. Standardised factor loadings,
reliability estimates and the variance extracted are presented in
Table 3.
The individual item loadings on the constructs were all highly
significant with values ranging from 0.68 to 0.87. No cross loadings
worth mentioning appeared. Hence, all the items were considered
in the interpretation of the factors (Hair et al., 2006). Additionally,
Cronbach’s alpha internal reliability coefficients were above the
threshold value of 0.7 for satisfactory scales. Finally, in our study,
the variance extracted measures exceeded the 0.5 threshold
(Fornell & Larcker, 1981). Our results satisfy the three criteria for
convergent validity for the internal constructs (Bagozzi, Li, &
Phillips, 1991; Hair et al., 2006).
Intercorrelations between the dimensions are presented in
Table 4. All correlation coefficients were significant and below
0.80, thus (severe) multicollinearity is not a concern in the present
data (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2001). Although three of the correlations
are above 0.7, the relatively high composite reliability measures
(>0.7), as well as our large sample (n = 4828) can effectively
protect the data against eventual deleterious effects of multi-
collinearity (Grewal, Cote, & Baumgartner, 2004), unless the
multicollinearity would have been severe (i.e. correlations above
0.8). To further assess the discriminant validity of the subset of
measures, we adopted the procedure recommended by Hair et al.
(2006) based on Fornell and Larcker (1981). All variance-extracted
estimates displayed in Table 3 were greater than the corresponding
interconstruct squared correlation estimates in Table 4. Therefore,
these tests satisfy the criteria for discriminant validity.
Model validation
The next step in the analysis concerns testing the structural
model that relates each of the motives for food choice to the overall
attitude toward traditional foods and behaviour toward traditional
food. The presumed model performed well on the pooled sample
(Table 5). The x2 for the model was 5245.31 with 306 degrees of
freedom (p < 0.001); the RMSEA value was 0.058; the GFI was 0.91
and the CFI was 0.98. Also the other goodness-of-fit indices were
satisfactory.
Importance of weight control and convenience were negatively
associated with consumers’ general attitude toward traditional
food. However, those associations were relatively weak. Hence,
 Z. Pieniak et al. / Appetite 53 (2009) 101–108 105

Table 3
Factor loadings, reliability estimates and variance extracted for motives for food choice.

Constructs and items It is important to me that the Standardised factor Composite Variance
food I eat on a normal weekday . . . loading reliability extracted

Weight control 0.90 0.64

Helps me control my weight 0.78
Is low in fat 0.84
Is low in calories 0.77

Price 0.79 0.58

Is not expensive 0.83
Is good value for money 0.68
Is cheap 0.77

Ethical concern 0.84 0.57

Is produced using ethical production methods 0.78
(e.g. sustainable, animal friendly, without child labour, etc)
Is produced/packaged in an environmentally friendly way 0.77
Supports the local economy 0.71

Convenience 0.84 0.64

Is easy to plan, buy and prepare 0.82
Takes very little time to prepare 0.78
Can be cooked very easily 0.80

Natural content 0.85 0.65

Contains natural ingredients 0.87
Contains no artificial ingredients 0.78
Contains no additives 0.77

Health 0.89 0.74

Contains a lot of vitamins and minerals 0.87
Keeps me healthy 0.87
Is nutritious 0.81

Sensory appeal 0.89 0.69

Smells nice 0.86
Has a pleasant texture 0.82
Tastes well 0.82

Familiarity 0.74 0.54

Is familiar 0.77
Is what I usually eat 0.76
Is like the food I ate when I was a child 0.68

All factor loadings are significant at p < 0.001. Fit statistics for the pooled data RMSEA = 0.058; GFI = 0.91; CFI = 0.98.

people who attached more importance to control their weight and
who attached more importance to convenience in food purchasing
and consumption had less positive attitudes toward traditional
food. This indicates that traditional foods failed to appeal to
consumers in terms of convenience and weight control. On the
contrary, familiarity was positively associated with general
attitude toward traditional food. Additionally, importance of
convenience and health were found to have a negative direct
relationship with the claimed consumption of traditional food. On
the contrary, importance of natural content and familiarity when
purchasing food were positively associated with traditional food
consumption. The structural equation analysis supports that
attitudes toward traditional food have a direct positive and
relatively strong effect on traditional food consumption, which
corroborates classical attitude–behaviour theories.
In order to provide insights in cross-country differences in the
association between food choice motives and traditional food
consumption, a multi-group structural equation modelling ana-
lysis has been performed. In general, the model performed well
x2 = 7771.35, df = 1926; p < 0.001; RMSEA = 0.061; NNFI = 0.98;
CFI = 0.98 (Table 5).
The results of the structural equation analysis showed that
importance of weight control had a significant negative association
with general attitude toward traditional food in Norway and
Poland, though no significant direct relationship with consump-
tion in any of the six countries. Price had no significant relationship
with general attitude in all countries, except in Spain where the
relationship was negative; and no significant association with
traditional food consumption in all investigated countries. Hence,
although Spanish consumers with a stronger importance of price

Table 4
Correlation matrix of the ‘‘motives for food choice’’ dimensions.

Construct 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1. Weight control 1.00

2. Price 0.46 1.00
3. Ethical concern 0.53 0.49 1.00
4. Convenience 0.46 0.60 0.41 1.00
5. Natural content 0.55 0.48 0.71 0.42 1.00
6. Health 0.61 0.57 0.67 0.50 0.74 1.00
7. Sensory appeal 0.42 0.57 0.51 0.53 0.58 0.76 1.00
8. Familiarity 0.43 0.47 0.51 0.46 0.53 0.55 0.48 1.00

Note: All correlations are statistically significant at p < 0.01 (two-tailed).

106 Z. Pieniak et al. / Appetite 53 (2009) 101–108

Table 5
Structural model (standardised solution) per country and for the total pooled sample.

Construct Path Construct Belgium France Italy Norway Poland Spain Total

Weight control ! General attitude ns ns ns 0.32 0.32 ns 0.07

Price ! General attitude ns ns ns ns ns 0.19 ns
Ethical concern ! General attitude ns ns ns ns ns ns ns
Convenience ! General attitude 0.19 0.15 0.20 ns ns ns 0.08
Natural content ! General attitude ns ns ns ns ns ns ns
Healthiness ! General attitude ns ns ns ns ns ns ns
Sensory appeal ! General attitude 0.62 0.30 ns ns ns ns ns
Familiarity ! General attitude 0.31 0.39 0.39 0.24 0.32 0.24 0.20
Weight control ! Traditional food consumption ns ns ns ns ns ns ns
Price ! Traditional food consumption ns ns ns ns ns ns ns
Ethical concern ! Traditional food consumption ns ns ns ns ns ns ns
Convenience ! Traditional food consumption ns 0.12 ns 0.25 ns 0.15 0.17
Natural content ! Traditional food consumption ns 0.46 ns ns ns ns 0.25
Healthiness ! Traditional food consumption ns 0.36 ns ns ns ns 0.31
Sensory appeal ! Traditional food consumption ns ns ns ns ns ns ns
Familiarity ! Traditional food consumption ns 0.30 0.35 0.39 0.30 0.19 0.37
General attitude ! Traditional food consumption 0.34 0.19 0.33 0.53 0.53 0.45 0.57

Goodness-of-fit statistics for the multi-group analysis: x2 (1926) = 7771.35, p < 0.001; RMSEA = 0.061; NNFI = 0.98; CFI = 0.98.
Goodness-of-fit statistics for the total sample: x2 (306) = 5245.31, p < 0.001; RMSEA = 0.058; NNFI = 0.98; CFI = 0.98.

felt less positive about traditional foods, their price consciousness
did not deter directly from traditional food consumption. Ethical
concern neither had a significant association with general attitude
nor with consumption of traditional food in all six European
counties. Convenience had a negative association with general
attitude toward traditional foods in Belgium, France, and Italy, and
a negative relation with traditional food consumption in France,
Norway and Spain. Importance of natural content and health had
no significant association with general attitude and consumption
in all investigated counties, except in France, where importance of
natural content was found to be positively and relatively strong
related to traditional foods consumption, whilst importance of
health was negatively and moderately associated with consump-
tion. Sensory appeal was significantly and positively associated
with general attitude toward traditional food in Belgium and
France. Interestingly, in Belgium this association was relatively
strong as compared to the other countries (0.62). The association
between sensory appeal and consumption was not significant in all
investigated countries. A moderate to relatively strong association
between familiarity and general attitude toward traditional food
was confirmed in all countries. Additionally, familiarity was
confirmed to have a direct moderate and positive relationship with
traditional food consumption in almost all countries, except for
Belgium. Furthermore, the relatively strong relationship between
general attitude and traditional food consumption was confirmed
in all six investigated countries.
Discussion and conclusions
The first objective of this study was to assess and test cross-
cultural validity of eight motives for food choice in six European
countries: Belgium, France, Italy, Norway, Poland and Spain. The
results indicate that the considered dimensions, i.e. weight control,
price, ethical concern, convenience, natural content, health,
sensory appeal, and familiarity, measured with the three items
each as detailed in Table 3, have a similar meaning and similar
structural characteristics across cultures within Europe. Those
constructs are proven to be cross-culturally valid, which means
that observed differences are real differences, in the sense that they
do not stem from cross-cultural differences in the interpretation of
items or concepts. These findings contradict those obtained by
Eertmans, Victoir, Notelaers, Vansant, & Van den Bergh (2006),
who suggested that the FCQ items and the underlying constructs
might have different connotations in different European countries.
One of the explanations could be that not all of the FCQ items
(Steptoe et al., 1995) were included in the present study (e.g. mood
was not included). In addition we have used only three items
describing each dimension. Among those items, some were slightly
adapted based on the results of a previous qualitative exploratory
study that was performed in the same countries as covered in the
survey discussed in this paper (Guerrero et al., 2009). In our study,
the set of items related to the underlying constructs were cross-
nationally congeneric, so the motive dimensions can be con-
ceptualised in the same way across the countries involved in this
study, i.e. Belgium, France, Italy, Norway, Poland and Spain. Next,
configural, metric and scalar forms of invariance were established,
thus comparison of means between countries might be performed
and is meaningful since the measurement scales are similar across
the involved countries. Additionally, configural invariance, metric
invariance, factor variance invariance and error variance invar-
iance were satisfied, allowing comparison of correlations between
scale scores between the six investigated countries (Steenkamp &
Baumgartner, 1998). Furthermore, the original motive dimensions
used in this study were proven to display convergent and
discriminant validity.
The second major objective of this study was to assess the
impact of the motives for food choice on traditional food
consumption. By using structural equation modelling, we were
able to estimate the strength and direction of direct and indirect
relationships between the different constructs on one hand, and
consumers’ attitudes toward traditional food and traditional food
consumption on the other hand. The study herewith sheds light on
why traditional foods appeal to consumers or not in different
European countries in relation to their motives for purchasing food
in general.
Importance of weight control had a significant negative
association with general attitude toward traditional food in
Norway and Poland, where traditional foods were mostly
recognised as rather fatty, as was concluded also from the
exploratory focus group study (Guerrero et al., 2009). Furthermore,
traditional foods have been already associated with ‘special
occasions’ in Norway (Guerrero et al., in press) and specialty
dishes that are consumed on festive occasions. This kind of food
eaten on special occasions may be perceived as more sophisticated,
more ‘hedonic’ and providing primarily pleasure rather than
nutrition and health benefits, and therefore less agreeing with
controlling weight.
In general, price is recognised as an important factor
influencing food choice in general (Furst, Connors, Bisogni, Sobal,
& Falk, 1996; Jomori, Proenca, & Calvo, 2008; Steptoe et al., 1995).
 Z. Pieniak et al. / Appetite 53 (2009) 101–108
Furthermore, based on qualitative focus group discussions
performed in the UK, Chambers et al. (2007) suggested price
together with inconvenience as barriers preventing consumers
from buying more local products. However, in our study, the
importance of price when buying daily meals failed to be
significantly associated with both general attitude toward
traditional food and traditional food consumption both for the
pooled sample as well as within each country, except in Spain.
Apparently, European consumers are aware of the potential price
premiums associated with traditional foods relative to other
foods. This does neither directly deter from traditional food
consumption, nor does it negatively influence their attitude
toward traditional foods. The difference as compared to the
conclusions by Chambers et al. (2007) might be attributed either
to the different cultural setting and research method, though it
may also suggest that the concept of traditional foods (and related
price perceptions) is not simply equivalent to the concept of local
food. This is in line with the consumer driven definition set forth
by Guerrero et al. (2009), which suggests that ‘traditional’ means
more than just ‘local’. Another explanation could be that the
respondents in our sample were relatively highly educated (thus
possibly also earning more money) and hence price would be for
them less relevant for product choice.
Ethical concern has not appeared to have a significant relation
with general attitudes toward traditional food and traditional food
consumption. This finding indicates that ethical issues related, e.g.
to the production and image of traditional foods neither act as a
motive nor as a barrier to feel favourable about traditional foods or
to purchase and consume traditional foods more frequently.
Furthermore, importance attached to convenience revealed to
be negatively related to both general attitude and traditional food
consumption, which corroborates Chambers et al. (2007) for their
case of local foods in the UK. People who were more focused on
convenience in food choice had a more negative attitude and
indicated a lower consumption of traditional food products. This
finding reveals that traditional foods fail to appeal to consumers in
terms of perceived convenience.
In contrast, importance of natural content was positively
associated with traditional food consumption. This association was
particularly strong in France. Thus, the more important natural
content was for consumers related to food in general, the higher
their traditional food consumption. The term ‘natural’ has been
already associated with other emotional terms such as traditional
and homemade (Bender, 1989). Additionally, Kuznesof et al. (1997)
showed that regional food was perceived as ‘‘authentic’’ and as
occurring naturally or abundantly. These findings suggest that the
natural character or image of traditional foods constitutes one of its
major assets vis-à-vis consumers.
In general, health is recognised as one of the most important
determinants of food choice (Verbeke, 2008). Traditional foods
may have potential health characteristics (Trichopoulou et al.,
2007), which have been tested over time, e.g. in the case of the
Mediterranean diet (de Lorgeril & Salen, 2006; Trichopoulou,
2007). However, differences in dietary patterns between European
populations living in different geographical regions are quite
substantial and key elements of those eating habit and nutritional
differences are related to traditional foods (Slimani et al., 2002). In
our study, a negative association between health as a motive for
food choice and traditional food consumption has been found,
particularly in France. This finding suggests that traditional foods
are not perceived as fitting with a healthy food choice, despite their
perceived natural character. Potential explanations may stem from
the perception that traditional foods are often full fat and energy
dense products, or products that underwent only minimal
conservation processing or packaging, and hence are perhaps
perceived as entailing higher microbial risk.
107
Next, the results indicated that in general sensory appeal and
perceived importance of sensory experiences, including smell,
taste and appearance, were not significantly associated with
general attitude and behaviour toward traditional foods. Only in
Belgium and France higher interest in sensory performance of
food made traditional foods more appealing for consumers (as
reflected in the positive path toward attitude). However, sensory
performance did not directly influence the choice for traditional
foods.
Importance attached to familiarity with a product was shown to
positively influence traditional food consumption behaviour,
which indicates that people who attached more importance to
familiar products are more likely to opt for a traditional food
product. This finding corroborates one of the important elements
of the definition of traditional foods, namely the fact that it
concerns products that are frequently consumed and whose
consumption habit is transferred from one generation to the other
(Guerrero et al., 2009). Additionally, our results confirm a positive
relationship between attitude and behaviour, which is in line with
classical attitude–behaviour theories (Ajzen, 1991; Ajzen &
Fishbein, 1980). In this study, general attitude toward traditional
food had the highest path coefficient linking with traditional food
consumption.
Some limitations of this study should be noted. Our study
focused on a single item and self-reported measure of traditional
food consumption behaviour. Although using a single item
measure for behaviour is a common practice, the self-reported
and subjective nature of the measure is more problematic.
Specifically, it might have been subjected to social desirability,
post-rationalisation, and cognitive dissonance or consonance and
hence may deviate from actual behaviour. Therefore, further
validation studies including objective measures of market place
behaviour are recommended. Furthermore, this paper focuses on
traditional food as a concept, which is quite broad and open to
multiple interpretations, therefore leaving the question whether
similar findings apply for different types of traditional foods (e.g.
typical everyday food products versus the specialities type
products). It should be stressed also that consumers’ (purchasing)
behaviour is likely to be conditioned by more variables than the
ones dealt with in this study (among others, environmental factors,
information variables, socio-demographic characteristics, emo-
tional aspects). Further research investigating the impact of a
broader array of factors together with those investigated in this
study is recommended. Finally, our sample is biased toward higher
educated Europeans which may be associated with the online data
collection method that requires higher computer literacy and web
access. Nevertheless, the proportions of education level categories
are consistent across countries.
Traditional foods are closely connected to the culture and the
identity of the population where they are produced; they carry a
strong symbolic value (Guerrero et al., 2009). Despite the obvious
cultural differences between the six considered countries, the
results obtained from a multi-group analysis were very similar.
General attitude toward traditional foods, familiarity, and impor-
tance of food naturalness emerged as drivers for traditional food
consumption, whereas importance of convenience and health
emerged as barriers to traditional food consumption.
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