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CASE STUDIES IN
THE TRADITIONAL
FOOD SECTOR
Related Titles
Developing Food Products for Consumers with Specific Dietary Needs
(978-0-08-100329-9)
Integrating the Packaging and Product Experience in Food and Beverages
(978-0-08-100356-5)
Consumer Science and Strategic Marketing: Case Studies in the Wine Industry
(978-0-08-100944-4)
Woodhead Publishing Series
in Food Science, Technology
and Nutrition

CASE STUDIES IN
THE TRADITIONAL
FOOD SECTOR
A volume in the Consumer Science
and Strategic Marketing Series

Edited by

ALESSIO CAVICCHI
CRISTINA SANTINI
Woodhead Publishing is an imprint of Elsevier
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CONTENTS

List of Contributors xi
About the Editors xiii
Foreword xv
Preface xvii
“In Tradition We Trust”: The Emerging (?) Trends of Authenticity
in the Food Sector and the Role of Consumer Science to Support SMEs xxi

Part I Traditional Foods: Definitions, Challenges

and Consumer Trends 1
1. Traditional Food: Definitions and Nuances 3
Francesca Galli
Introduction 3
Traditional Food and Consumers 7
Traditional Food and Producers 10
Traditional Food and Collectivities 13
Concluding Remarks 17
References 18
Further Reading 24

2. Global Challenges in Traditional Food Production

and Consumption 25
Gervasio Antonelli and Elena Viganò
Introduction 25
Legislation for the Protection of TFPs 27
Consumers and TFPs 33
Which Marketing Strategies for TFPs? 37
Concluding Remarks 40
References 42

3. Traditional Food Products and Consumer Choices: A Review 47

Vincenzina Caputo, Giovanna Sacchi and Angelos Lagoudakis
Introduction 47
Consumers’ Conceptualization of TFPs 50
Consumer Knowledge and Awareness for Noncertified and Certified TFPs 54

v
vi Contents

Consumer Purchasing Drivers and Deterrents 58

Consumer Preferences and WTP for TFPs and European Quality Labels 64
Conclusion 79
References 81
Websites 87

Part II Sensory and Consumer Research Between

Theory and Practice 89
4. Sensory and Consumer Approaches for Targeted Product
Development in the Agro-Food Sector 91
Davide Giacalone
What is Sensory and Consumer Science? 92
Applications of Sensory/Consumer Insights in New Product Development 94
Current Trends in Sensory and Consumer Science 112
Conclusions 121
References 122
Further Reading 125
Methodological Notes 125

5. How Can Consumer Science Be Used for Gaining Information

About Consumers and the Market? 129
Erdogan Koc and Hakan Boz
Introduction 129
An Evaluation of Current Research Methods 132
Psychophysiological/Neuromarketing Research Tools 133
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging 137
Electroencephalography 137
Galvanic Skin Response 138
Heart Rate 139
Eye Tracking (RT) 139
Facial Recognition 142
A Case Study Example 142
Conclusions 146
References 146
Further Reading 152
 Contents vii

6. How Can Consumer Science Help to Reduce the Risk of Market

Failure? An Academician
Practitioner Approach in the Italian
Olive Oil Industry 153
Cristina Santini, Alessio Cavicchi, Chiara Seghieri and Lucia Bailetti
Introduction 154
An Outlook to the Business: EU Regulations, Trends, and Challenges
of the Olive Oil Sector in Italy 156
The Business Problem and the Need for a Deep Understanding of Market
Dynamics 158
Research Questions and Methodology: The Workshop 160
Results 163
Discussion and Conclusions 166
References 168
Websites 169

7. How Do Firms Process Info? Monitoring Brand Equity Drivers

in Food and Beverage Sectors 171
Rosaria Romano, Marcello Risitano and Michele Quintano
Introduction 172
The Role of Consumer Behavior in Strategic Brand Management 173
Brand Equity Drivers: Key Constructs and Measurement Scales 177
A Comparative Case Study on Beer and Coffee 183
Conclusion 198
References 199
Further Reading 204
Appendix 204

Part III Adopting Innovative Marketing Strategies

Based on Market Research Insights and Consumer
Studies 207
8. Exploring the Benefits of Employing Market Insights and
Consumer Trends in Food Product Innovation: A Case
Study from Germany 209
Adrienne Steffen
Introduction 210
Product Innovation in Small Firms 211
Diffusion of Innovation 214
The Case of Stiefkind Apple Juice 219
viii Contents

References 233
Further Reading 236
Methodological Notes 237

9. Marketing Research on Fruit Branding: The Case of the

Pear Club Variety “Angelys” 239
Maurizio Canavari
Introduction 239
Branding in the Fruit Industry 242
Consumer Science, Marketing Research, and Marketing Strategies 244
Conclusion 250
Acknowledgments 251
References 251
Further Reading 254
Methodological Appendix 254

10. How Can Consumer Science Help Firms Transform Their

Dog (BCG Matrix) Products Into Profitable Products? 255
Biancamaria Torquati, Riccardo Scarpa, Irene Petrosillo,
Maria G. Ligonzo and Chiara Paffarini
Introduction 255
Bibliographical Review 257
Product Portfolio and Structure of the Pecorino Cheese Market 261
Consumer Science and Marketing Strategies 266
Discussion 272
Conclusion 274
References 275
Further Reading 277
Methodological Notes 278

Part IV Mature Products in a Mature Business?

Challenges and Opportunities for Traditional
Food Products 281
11. How CS Can be Used for Producing Info that Can be
Employed in Strategy Making 283
Roberta Capitello, Maria De Salvo and Diego Begalli
Introduction 283
Background Context and Objectives 284
 Contents ix

Materials and Methods 287

Results 289
Consumer Research and Marketing Strategies: The Case of Monte
Veronese PDO 295
Conclusion 300
References 302
Methodological Notes 303

12. Regional Food Labels as a Way to Reposition Mature Products 305

Martina Chalupová and Daniel Němec
Introduction: How Regional Labels May Help Reinventing Mature Products 306
Czech Food Labels Signaling Origin and Quality: “Flooded” Consumers 309
Vysočina Region and Its Regional Labels 313
Materials and Methods 314
Research Results 316
Model 0: Awareness of Created (Nonexistent) Label 319
Model 1: Awareness of Label “Regional Food Vysočina Region” 322
Model 2: Awareness of Label “Vysočina Regional Product” 324
Conclusion 326
References 329
Further Reading 333
Appendix 334

13. How Do Firms Use Consumer Science to Target Consumer

Communication? The Case of Animal Welfare 337
Maria Cecilia Mancini, Davide Menozzi, Filippo Arfini and Mario Veneziani
Introduction 337
Relationship Between Traditional Food Products and Innovation 341
Materials and Methods 343
Consumers’ and Supply Chain Stakeholders’ Perceptions of Animal Welfare
Innovative Practices 345
Conclusions 351
References 353
Further Reading 357

Conclusions 359
Index 363
This page intentionally left blank
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

Gervasio Antonelli
Università degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy
Filippo Arfini
University of Parma, Parma, Italy
Lucia Bailetti
Centro Italiano di Analisi Sensoriale, CIAS Innovation, Macerata, Italy
Diego Begalli
University of Verona, Verona, Italy
Hakan Boz
Usak University, Usak, Turkey
Maurizio Canavari
Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Roberta Capitello
University of Verona, Verona, Italy
Vincenzina Caputo
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
Alessio Cavicchi
University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy
Martina Chalupová
College of Polytechnics, Tolstého, Jihlava, Czech Republic
Maria De Salvo
University of Catania, Catania, Italy
Francesca Galli
University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
Davide Giacalone
University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
Erdogan Koc
Bandirma Onyedi Eylul University, Bandirma, Turkey
Angelos Lagoudakis
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
Maria G. Ligonzo
Agri-food group Grifo, Perugia, Italy
Maria C. Mancini
University of Parma, Parma, Italy

xi
xii List of Contributors

Davide Menozzi
University of Parma, Parma, Italy
Daniel Němec
Masaryk University, Lipová, Brno, Czech Republic
Chiara Paffarini
University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
Irene Petrosillo
University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
Michele Quintano
University of Naples Parthenope, Naples, Italy
Marcello Risitano
University of Naples Parthenope, Naples, Italy
Rosaria Romano
University of Calabria, Cosenza, Italy
Giovanna Sacchi
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States; University of
Florence, Florence, Italy
Cristina Santini
University San Raffaele Roma, Rome, Italy
Riccardo Scarpa
Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom
Chiara Seghieri
Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy
Adrienne Steffen
Hochschule Fresenius - University of Applied Sciences, Heidelberg, Germany
Biancamaria Torquati
University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
Mario Veneziani
University of Parma, Parma, Italy
Elena Viganò
Università degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy
ABOUT THE EDITORS

Alessio Cavicchi is an associate professor at the University of

Macerata (Italy), where he teaches “Food Economics and
Marketing” and “Place Branding and Rural Development” in
the degree of International Tourism and Destination
Management. He received his PhD in Economics of Food and
Environmental Resources from the University of Naples,
Parthenope and a MSc in Food Economics and Marketing
from University of Reading (United Kingdom). His main fields
of interest and research are consumer food choice, economics
of food quality and safety, and innovation and sustainability in
agribusiness and tourism. He has served as an agrifood expert
for several DGs of the European Commission, and he is the
coordinator of two EU funded projects: “The Wine Lab” and
“FoodBiz.”
Cristina Santini is a researcher at the Università San
Raffaele, in Rome, where she teaches Marketing and Business
management. She also teaches International Management at
the University of Florence, in Italy. Her research interests
include entrepreneurship, small businesses, strategic marketing,
ecopreneurship, and sustainability. Her primary focus is on
food and beverage businesses.

xiii
This page intentionally left blank
FOREWORD

It is about 40 years since the “quality turn” in the food indus-

try was first used. Before this turn, food marketing and prod-
uct innovation were dominated by large-scale industrial
brands and by product standardization. The quality turn was
the result of a convergence between an increasing dissatisfac-
tion of consumers with the food industry, their growing atten-
tion to naturality and tradition, the intensification of farmers’
and small food producers’ activism, and a growing support of
local institutions. It was not only the outcome of a market
process: it was a social movement affecting the way people
conceive, know about and embody food in their practices.
Quality products, recognized and actively promoted by the
EU since 1992, are now a consolidated market segment.
Quality is now a set of principles for a new technological and
business paradigm based on diversity and differentiation.
Quality products first consolidated their position into the pro-
duction sector, and have successively shaped the evolution of
distribution. Companies like Wholefood or Eataly have
revolutionized the retailing philosophy, as they have managed
to organize diversity. Social media and e-commerce have
removed barriers to entry in the market related to communi-
cation, so that every producer, no matter their size, now has
the possibility to communicate their business ideas to
consumers.
Addressing the weakest point of the industrial brands—
their detachment from nature and society—traditional food
represents, for a growing number of consumers, the symbol
for alternative lifestyles and alternative models of develop-
ment. It provides a source of competitive advantage for farm-
ers and small food businesses, as it can challenge industrial

xv
xvi Foreword

brands on a terrain they are not familiar with. For public

administrations, traditional food represents a catalyst of local
development.
As a new paradigm of production, tradition represents both
the resource base—the possibility to tap into bio- and cultural
diversity, geographical differences, local knowledge—and a
pathway for innovation. The concept of retro-innovation
catches the capacity of reinterpreting old products and old
processes through the use of new technologies and new orga-
nizational patterns. Traditional food also implies a different
communication paradigm where trust and disintermediation
prevail.
As the appeal of nature and tradition is high and growing,
it is no surprise that there is an increasing interest in the
industry to use the traditional narrative without having the
requisites, and on the other hand it is difficult to avoid that
success and growth, putting pressure on producers to “con-
ventionalize” and “industrialize” production processes. In this
scenario, the issue of authenticity will dominate. Labeling and
certification schemes will be important, but a key role will be
played by the capacity of producers to build appropriate mar-
keting strategies. I am sure that this book will give an impor-
tant contribution to this challenge.

Professor Gianluca Brunori

University of Pisa, Italy
PREFACE

The recent “background document” published by the

European Commission for the high-level event on “FOOD
2030: Research & Innovation for Tomorrow’s Nutrition &
Food Systems” held in 2016, underlines how “the European
food sector unites centuries of know-how with innovation in
areas such as packaging, storage, transportation and marketing.
Thanks to its size and importance, the EU food sector acts as
a global benchmark. It is diversified yet standardized, tradi-
tional yet highly innovative, local but integrated and
consumer-driven.”
This description well explains the complexity of a sector in
which many challenges for all the stakeholders stand on a tra-
dition
innovation continuum. According to several market
research companies, consumer trends in the coming years will
be affected by many changes, driven by different motivations
such as health awareness and preference for niche products
and by a growing influence of new technologies for both food
processing and communication.
Thus, a synchronized combination of different disciplines
like economics, psychology, sociology, marketing, manage-
ment, anthropology, neuroscience, statistics (just to cite the
most relevant), and their relations with sensory analysis is nec-
essary to increase the accuracy of forecasting and detecting the
probability of consumers’ food choices by adopting a huge
variety of qualitative and quantitative research methods.
According to the Directorate-General for Research &
Innovation (DG-RTD) of the European Commission, this
combination of different fields, addressed to understand how
people think, perceive and behave about food and its produc-
tion is part of a multidisciplinary area of research of increasing

xvii
xviii Preface

importance, that crosses both social and natural sciences: con-

sumer science.
During recent years, two Elsevier journals in particular
have brought a great contribution to the advancement of
knowledge in this multidisciplinary area: Food Quality and
Preference and Appetite. Nevertheless, scholars in the field of
agricultural, food, and beverages economics are asked to
address their publications not only to their peers but also to a
readership of professionals. In social science research, and
more specifically in marketing and management, practitioners
must be taken into great consideration and scientific papers
and book chapters often contain recommendations for profes-
sionals. Sometimes, these recommendations provided by scho-
lars can represent only generic suggestions without realistic
application in light of the lack of conversation with the poten-
tial beneficiaries of such research.
When research objects meet professionals’ interest and find-
ings are effectively communicated, the existing gap between
academicians and practitioners is reduced. This topic is as rele-
vant today as ever. In fact, it has been recently observed by
some scholars that the ongoing debate on the academician

practitioner gap has been increasing sharply during the early
part of the 21st century.
This book aims to provide a contribution in this direction;
there is an emerging demand from practitioners and under-
graduate and postgraduate students attending business and
agricultural studies to obtain practical information through
real cases and field-based research.
Thus, this book addresses the following research questions:
• What is a “traditional food” and which market trends and
challenges can be observed at international level?
• How has research in the field of consumer science become
relevant for marketing strategies of SMEs playing in tradi-
tional food sectors?
 Preface xix

• Which tangible economic outcomes have been obtained

by the joint work of consumer scientists, researchers and
consultants in the marketing field, agribusiness managers,
and SME owners?
• Which challenges have to be faced by these players to
make the most of R&D?
Thus, this book explores, through some case studies, how
consumer science has been implemented in the traditional
food sector to achieve the following strategic aims: rejuvenat-
ing product image; shaping new market places; achieving mar-
ket differentiation and geographical diffusion; achieving
customer loyalty; promoting traditional features of the prod-
uct; and defining product positioning in competitive
environment.
Through case studies, successful examples and practices are
provided. Practitioners and prospective professionals in the
food and beverages business can compare these cases with
their business environment to gain insights and suggestions.
This book aims to provide an insight into how consumer
science can be useful for managers and entrepreneurs; it also
provides examples of the efficacy of a multidisciplinary
approach in facing competitive challenges.
We are aware that this book, as the first in a series, repre-
sents only the continuation of an existing dialogue between
academics, consultants, managers, students, and all the stake-
holders of the food and beverages supply chain. Nevertheless,
with this attempt, we would like to create a new arena for
sharing and discussing the excellent research outputs provided
by many universities and research centers worldwide, and to
show their usefulness for different business players.
Thus, this book is addressed to both practitioners and stu-
dents. Case studies recall theoretical issues and authors have
been asked to put the reader in a condition to frame the prob-
lem under investigation from a theoretical point of view: proper
xx Preface

space is given to methodology and theoretical background, but

chapters differ in their structure from traditional academic
papers. Thus, despite the rigorous methodology that has to be
applied to produce case studies, chapters try to avoid a strong
academic nature, limiting algebra and mathematics and moder-
ating highly conceptual terms on one side, but giving ample
references to explore in-depth methodologies.

Alessio Cavicchi1 and Cristina Santini2

1
University of Macerata, Italy
2
University San Raffaele Roma, Rome
“IN TRADITION WE TRUST”: THE EMERGING (?)
TRENDS OF AUTHENTICITY IN THE FOOD
SECTOR AND THE ROLE OF CONSUMER
SCIENCE TO SUPPORT SMEs

INTRODUCTION
During recent years, the food sector has experienced growing
competition, with multinational companies and local farmers
all struggling in arenas where new trends and needs have rap-
idly emerged.
For instance, according to Deloitte, the drivers of con-
sumer value seem to be deeply changed, with far-reaching
implications for the food and beverage industry, by opening
new opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs). In fact, nowadays:
Consumers have an unprecedented ability to access information
about products and share this information via social media, mak-
ing it more challenging than ever for companies to manage mes-
saging. In addition, many consumers have signaled a distrust of
the established food industry in spite of retailers’ and manufac-
turers’ traditional efforts to keep consumers positively engaged
with their brands.
Deloitte (2016)
Thus, consumer-led disruptions in the food industry are
challenging the ability of managers to effectively pursue
research and innovation (R&I)-driven strategies.
Mintel (2017) in “The Global Food and Drink Trends
2017” underlines the importance of tradition: “In tradition
we trust” is considered one of the main trends that can be
retrievable in Europe, North America, North Asia, Australia,
and New Zealand and emerging by in-depth conversations
with more than 60 global analysts. The report states that

xxi
xxii “In Tradition We Trust”

interest in authenticity and product stories has become a

strong driver of consumption over the past few years:
The rapid pace of change, the unpredictability of current events
and contentious political environments in many countries are
leading people to the safety of products that are recognisable
rather than revolutionary. The trust in the familiar does not elimi-
nate the need for innovation; instead, it emphasises the opportu-
nity for manufacturers to look to the past as a dependable
source of inspiration. Food and drink with authentic connections
to history or tradition provide an inherent element of trustworthi-
ness that many consumers yearn for in a tumultuous world. . ..
Thus, consumers seek comfort from modernised updates of age-
old formulations, flavours and formats.
Mintel (2017)
Thus, if the concept of “trust” is becoming more and more
relevant for consumers, new opportunities can emerge for players
(even the micro ones) involved for several decades and many gen-
erations in the production of traditional food products (TFPs).
For these reasons, this book deals with the concept of TFP
and its many nuances. Particularly, the first section analyzes the
complex world of traditional products. A generic definition
can be found both in Chapter 1, Traditional Food: Definitions
and Nuances, and Chapter 2, Global Challenges in Traditional
Food Production and Consumption, referring to a wide range
of products characterized by two main features: (1) they are
strongly linked with the specific natural resources of a particular
geographical area, but also with its social, cultural and gas-
tronomic heritage; (2) they are obtained through a traditional
production process that has been developed locally.
Chapter 1, Traditional Food: Definitions and Nuances,
explores these concepts more in-depth, with reference to
three main rationales behind the legal recognition and protec-
tion of origin products. By drawing on available literature,
and addressing the interests of actors across the food system,
the chapter emphasizes a set of critical issues in relation to the
 “In Tradition We Trust” xxiii

supply of credible information to consumers, the remunera-

tion of farmers and processors and the provision of public
goods and rural development.
In Chapter 2, Global Challenges in Traditional Food
Production and Consumption, examine the importance of
Geographical Indications and their role in differentiating TFPs
on local, national and international markets. They emphasize
the challenge of producers to carry out effective marketing
strategies to differentiate their offerings in terms of taste,
health properties, and cultural and ethical values. At the same
time, these strategies need to be pursued at the consortium
level, with other enterprises belonging to the same area, with
a convergence of views, and a strong cohesion among differ-
ent actors of the supply chain (De Roest and Menghi, 2000).
Trends observed by international market research compa-
nies, as well as the results of scientific research, provide a
strong basis for successful exploitation of niches. Small compa-
nies have the chance to carve out niches, stressing the “tradi-
tional” attributes and following market trends. What emerges
from the literature is that niche markets can be turned into
mainstream markets: historically, the case of organic food in
Germany and the UK (Latacz-Lohmann and Foster, 1997) has
shown that the diffusion of information and the growing
availability of some products have attracted new consumers
and expanded the dimensions of the market itself.
Despite the presence of promising market potentials, SMEs
and farmers are often in a disadvantageous position to other
larger players in the food chain (such as food manufacturers,
wholesalers, and retailers). This is why many small businesses
face a common problem: their efforts to maintain and improve
their market position or to upgrade their market share and to
expand their business activity internationally go unrewarded.
If it is true that SMEs can be initially facilitated to get into
a growing market by external consultants, the most
xxiv “In Tradition We Trust”

challenging issue for SMEs concerns the sustainability of com-

petitive advantage: once they become players into a market,
the key point is how the entrance of new competitors will
affect the overall degree of competitiveness and future results.
Thus, it is clear that devoting time and resources to the
adoption of clear marketing strategies, scarcely considered by
microfirms in this sector, become essential for long-lasting sus-
tainability of these SMEs. Thus, market insights and a reasoned
observation of consumers’ motivations and behaviors are
needed. For these reasons, in Chapter 3, Traditional Food
Products and Consumer Choices: A Review, explore the
motives driving consumers to purchase TFPs as well as the
main deterrents. With TFPs and EU quality-labeled products
sold for high-premium prices, the consumers’ preference and
willingness to pay for these products play a crucial role in deter-
mining the potential market opportunities to be exploited by
firms. Thus, a review on consumption habits and sociodemo-
graphic characteristics of TFP buyers is outlined. It is evident
that, despite some general trends and insights, no “one size fits
all” behavior exists. And it is apparent that a different attribute,
a different brand, or a different origin for the same kind of pro-
ducts, can influence consumers’ perceptions. Thus, market
reports and literature reviews can be important in providing an
orientation towards a certain market, but at the same time, the
need for deeper and customized research is emerging not only
for multinational companies, but also for SMEs.

THE CHALLENGE OF REDUCING THE GAP BETWEEN

THINKERS AND DOERS AND THE NEED FOR
CUSTOMIZED RESEARCH: WHICH ROLE FOR
CONSUMER SCIENCE?
As we have discussed in a paper published in the Journal of
Business Research (Santini et al., 2016), a huge debate exists on
 “In Tradition We Trust” xxv

the growing distance between thinkers and doers in the

entrepreneurial setting (Cavicchi et al., 2014). Recently,
Bartunek and Rynes (2014) studied the recent spike in journal
articles across management scholarship, seeking to address the
divide between academics and practitioners, underlining how
attention to this topic has been skyrocketing during the early
part of the 21st century. The special result of their research is
that very little empirical research really addresses the issue, and
many of the articles are opinion pieces on the importance of
this issue.
The authors also emphasize the reasons for the gap
emerging from the literature (http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactof-
socialsciences/2014/05/23/the-paradoxes-of-academic-and-
practitioner-relationships/): (1) the ways academics and
practitioners think about many issues is very different; (2) time
horizons are different as well: much longer for academics than
for practitioners; (3) different types of communication styles;
(4) a huge discussion among academics about the relationship
and compatibility between rigor and relevance; and (5) acade-
mia and management practice often have different incentives
(scholarly article vs business problem).
Our experience as academics in agribusiness and business
management fields, working in rural areas with SMEs and
farmers involved in the traditional food and wine sectors, sug-
gests that all these issues are realistic points, and we strongly
believe that, as the American theologian Reinold Niebhur
pointed out, “Nothing is so incredible as an answer to an
unasked question” (Niebhur, 1943). Researchers can develop
the best theories, approaches, tools, and results, but if there is
not a clear attempt to start a conversation with potential read-
ers and stakeholders by using a language understandable even
outside the university setting, we risk providing answers to
“questions that are not asked.” We have experienced this kind
of embarrassment several times at the beginning of our careers
xxvi “In Tradition We Trust”

in our dialogues with entrepreneurs. At a certain point, a dia-

logue with David Carson, Professor Emeritus of Marketing at
Ulster University, was a real incentive for us to develop an
“action research” approach to our research, in order to build
productive relationships for both scholars and practitioners, by
improving communication flows and conveying research
insights in much more familiar terms for practitioners (Santini
et al., 2016). He wrote to us: “When I and many of my
contemporaries joined academia we had many years prior
business experience which meant we knew how practitioners
thought and worked. Young people today come into academia
through a progression of degrees and direct employment and
therefore have no benchmarks by which to judge the validity
or otherwise of the practicality of theory. I’m afraid the ‘gap’
is getting wider.”
This lack is even more important in the traditional food
sector, where firms cannot be considered as a stand-alone
body but as a part of regional clusters, districts, or networks.
In this case, a “one-size-fits-all” recipe does not exist and,
when dealing with regional labels, the search for a solution
implies wise stakeholder management. Thus, every territory,
every community, every district, or rural area, having different
characteristics, cultural, and economic backgrounds, needs to
be “discovered” through participatory approaches (Cavicchi
and Stancova, 2016).
Thus, we have addressed this need for a conversation
among different players in the food and wine sectors, by
adopting the growing scientific field of consumer science,
which is multidisciplinary by its nature. Recently, Barjolle
et al. (2013) published a book on food consumer science. In
their introductory chapter, they provide a definition discussing
a hybrid of two distinct sciences: a hardware part concerning
“food science” and a software one related to “consumer sci-
ence.” The interaction between natural sciences such as
 “In Tradition We Trust” xxvii

chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, processing, etc. and

social and humanistic sciences, gives life to this complex but
exciting approach.
Our point of view is that a synchronized combination of
different disciplines like economics, psychology, sociology,
marketing, statistics, anthropology, and sensory analysis (just to
cite the most relevant) can increase the accuracy of forecasting
and detecting the probability of consumers’ food choices by
adopting a huge variety of qualitative and quantitative research
methods. As Barjolle and Pohar (2013, p. 2) state “consumer
research is not only the testing of new products or the evalua-
tion of the prices the consumers can pay for a product. It is
also related to forecasting and investigating prospects in
research and development activities for companies and there-
fore closely linked to the elaboration of products and market-
ing innovations.”
This cross-fertilization allows continuous experiments and
methodological innovation, that are constantly published by
two renowned Elsevier’s journals: Food Quality and Preference
and Appetite. These outlets, together with an insightful book
series published by Woodhead publishing on Food Science,
Technology and Nutrition have greatly contributed to the
advancement of knowledge in this field in recent years.
Nevertheless, to best of our knowledge and in light of our
experience, there is a profound need to demonstrate how the-
ories, methodologies, and tools can be used by small firms,
representing the vast majority of the companies operating at
least at the EU level.
Thus, even the theoretical concepts and methodological
tools explained in the second part of this book, are clarified
by practical and hypothetical examples and cases.
The first chapter of the second section (Chapter 4: Sensory
and Consumer Approaches for Targeted Product
Development in the Agro-Food Sector) authored by
xxviii “In Tradition We Trust”

Giacalone, is a review of methods adopted by consumer scien-

tists, with a focus on sensory evaluation. From his perspective,
sensory and consumer science can be considered as a multidis-
ciplinary scientific area focusing on understanding how
humans perceive and respond to food and beverages (as well
as consumer products generally). More specifically, according
to Stone and Sidel (2004), sensory evaluation can be defined
as “a scientific method used to evoke, measure, analyze and
interpret those responses to products as perceived through the
senses of sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing.”
This multidisciplinary scientific area can include emerging
disciplines such as those illustrated by Koc and Boz in
Chapter 5, How Can Consumer Science Be Used for Gaining
Information About Consumers and the Market?. Their work
particularly investigates the need for the new psychophyisolo-
gical/neuromarketing research tools compared with traditional
methods, a review of the research carried out with modern
consumer science tools and how data could be collected and
analyzed in the traditional food and wine market through the
use of these tools.
Chapter 6, How Can Consumer Science Help to Reduce
the Risk of Market Failure? An Academician-Practitioner
Approach in the Italian Olive Oil Industry, investigates the
academician
practitioner gap by illustrating a case of collabo-
ration between different stakeholders of an Italian extra-virgin
olive oil company. The case illustrates how sensory evaluation
techniques and marketing tools can help stakeholders to real-
ize the relevance of intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics of a
traditional product, revealing the contribution of ethnocentric
attitudes to assess the preference for olive oil, so as to increase
the awareness of agents, retailers, and buyers of the unique
attributes of a certain product.
In Chapter 7, How Do Firms Process Info? Monitoring
Brand Equity Drivers in Food and Beverage Sectors,
Another random document with
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sixteenths which he owned gave him the whip hand, and that he has
held ever since.
Now, no large block of common stock appears to be held by any
individual, corporation, or other government. Indeed, at a meeting
some years ago the largest shareholder outside of Great Britain was
a Frenchman, who had a little more than fifteen hundred shares.
That twenty million dollars was one of the best investments John
Bull has ever made, his holdings to-day being worth many times
what he paid for them. He has already received from it many millions
of dollars in dividends, and by his control of the canal has
enormously increased his power and prestige among the nations of
the world. His money gain, however, is not quite as great as that of
the original stockholders. They paid only about one hundred dollars
per share while he paid a little more than one hundred and thirteen
dollars.
I know the Panama Canal well. I visited it when it was in the hands
of the French, and I have spent several weeks there during
American control. I went over it from end to end with our engineers;
watched the steam shovels gouging the earth out of the Culebra Cut,
and travelled in a canoe down that part of it which was once the
Chagres River. I have also gone through the Suez Canal at three
different times and have made many notes of its construction.
The two undertakings are vitally different. The Suez Canal is little
more than a great ditch through the desert, and although it is just
about twice as big as Panama it does not compare with the latter in
the engineering difficulties of its construction. The ground here is
comparatively level. That of the Panama Canal route is up hill and
down, going right across the backbone of the Andes. The amount
excavated here was one hundred million cubic yards, or just about
one hundred million tons of dead weight. On one of my visits to
Panama I figured that the excavation of Culebra would just equal a
ditch three feet wide and three feet deep and long enough to go two
times around this twenty-five-thousand-mile globe with ten thousand
miles of ditch to spare.
 Twenty thousand and more of the Egyptian fellahs were employed
upon the Suez Canal at a time, and they scooped up much of the dirt
in their hands and carried it away in baskets. At the start men were
paid from ten to fifteen cents a day and boys under twelve only five
cents. After a time they were not paid at all. The Khedive agreed to
furnish all the labourers, and they worked for the French under the
lash just as the Hebrews did for the Egyptians in the days of
Pharaoh ages ago. With up-to-date canal-dredging machinery and
steam shovels the work of digging the canal at Suez could perhaps
be reproduced at one half its original cost. The actual cost was
probably quadrupled through the money spent in graft,
extravagance, and high interest rates by the French and Egyptians in
connection with it. When Ismail Pasha was forced from the throne he
left Egypt in debt to the amount of five hundred million dollars, most
of which was directly or indirectly caused by canal expenditures.
One would think that Egypt ought to receive a big revenue for the
right of way through her country and for the canal which her money
and her people practically built. By the original concession with Said
Pasha she was to receive fifteen percent of the net profits for the
entire term of the concession, which was ninety-nine years. But after
Ismail Pasha was deposed, the Egyptian government, finding itself
without money or credit, sold this claim on the canal profits to the
Crédit Foncier of France for a little more than four million dollars, and
the only interest it now has in the canal is in the trade which the
ships passing through bring to the country. Had Egypt retained that
fifteen per cent. it would have been receiving millions of dollars a
year from the tolls, and within a short time it could have recouped
itself for all Ismail Pasha’s extravagances. During the term of the
concession it could easily have repaid its debt to Turkey, and could
have made itself one of the richest countries of the world. As it is, the
canal, with all its property, becomes the possession of Egypt in 1968,
when the receipts at the present ratio of increase will be so
enormous as to make it, in proportion to its population, a Crœsus
among the nations of the world.
I spent all of last night on the Suez Canal. It was afternoon when
our ship left Port Said, and as the darkness came on we were in the
heart of the Arabian Desert. The air was clear, and the scenes were
weird but beautiful. The stars of the tropics, brighter by far than our
stars at home, made the heavens resplendent, while a great round
moon of burning copper turned the famous waterway into a stream
of molten silver. As we ploughed our way through, we could look out
over the silent desert of Arabia, and now and then see a caravan of
long-legged camels with their ghost-like riders bobbing up and down
under the moon. Our own pathway was made brighter by electric
lights. We had one blazing globe at our masthead, fed by a dynamo
on deck, and another at our prow. The latter threw its rays this way
and that across the channel in front of the steamer, making the
waters an opalescent blue like that of the Blue Grotto of Capri. We
passed many ships. In the distance they appeared only as two
blazing eyes—the reflectors which all vessels are required to keep
lighted as they pass through. As the ships came nearer they rose up
like spectres from the water, the masses of hulls and rigging back of
the fiery eyes making one think of demons about to attack.
The trip through the canal is slow, for the ships are allowed to go
only five or six miles an hour. Now and then they have to tie up to
posts, which have been set along both sides of the canal all the way
from Port Said to Suez. The canal rules require that when two ships
meet one must stop and hug the bank until the other has passed by.
Parts of the banks are walled with stones to prevent the sand from
falling in and filling up the canal, but notwithstanding this the dredges
have to be kept at work all the year round. Not far from Port Said I
saw great steam pumps sucking the sand from the bottom of the
channel and carrying it through pipes far out over the desert, and I
am told that the process of cleaning and deepening the waterway is
always going on.
There are stations, or guard houses, at intervals along the course
of the waterway and a few small towns have grown up here and
there. While the boat was stopping at one of these, a dirty Arab
brought alongside a leg of raw mutton. He offered to sell it to the
passengers but found no buyer. Outside of these towns and the
guard houses we see few signs of life. Here a camel caravan trots
along over the desert. There a flock of long-necked cranes springs
from the water into the air. When the sun is right, away across the
hot desert at the side of the ship there looms up out of the sands a
strange ship on other waters, apparently as real as those through
which we are moving. That is the wonderful mirage of the desert,
which so often deceives the thirsty traveller passing through it on
camels. As we approach it, it soon fades and disappears like a
veritable castle of the air.
The Suez Canal of to-day is far different from that which was
opened in 1869. As originally planned, the channel was less than
twenty-five feet deep and so narrow that it could not have
accommodated the shipping which goes through it nowadays. It has
since been widened so that its average width at the surface is about
three hundred feet, and the curves in it have been straightened so as
to shorten the time of transit and enable ships to pass the more
easily. The shipping facilities have been greatly improved both at
Port Tewfik and at Port Said. At Port Said the coaling arrangements
have been so improved that the largest steamers can load
thousands of tons in a very few hours.
The chief towns on the canal are Port Said, Ismailia, and Suez.
Port Said is at the northern end of the canal where we took the
steamer. This city, long said to be the wickedest and most dissipated
station on the way from London to the Far East, was made and lives
by the canal, the harbour being full of shipping from one year’s end
to another.
Ismailia, midway of the canal, is still scarcely more than a small
town. It is now said to be a healthful place, although at one time it
was malarial. The Arabs call it the “cleansed tomb.” This town is at
the end of the fresh-water canal which was made during the building
of the Suez Canal to supply the workmen with water, and is not far
from Zagazig and the old Land of Goshen.
Suez, which is a small-sized city with several thousand
Europeans, is connected by train with Port Said, and also with Cairo
and other parts of Egypt. The city is about thirteen hundred miles
from Aden, Arabia, and just twenty-nine hundred and nineteen miles
from Mombasa, where we are to enter the Colony of Kenya and
make our way by rail across country to the Great Lakes.
 CHAPTER XXVI
DOWN THE RED SEA

The Red Sea is red hot! I have steamed many miles along the
Equator, but this salt-water corridor leading to the Indian Ocean is
much hotter. As deserts shut in the Red Sea on both sides, there are
no fresh streams to cool it, and the tropical sun beats down upon the
waters and sands from January to December. As a result, the
temperature of the water at the surface is often one hundred degrees
above zero, and it steams the air like a vast hot-water plant. The
sun’s rays are bottled up by the deserts, which then act as enormous
radiators. Consequently, the atmosphere is suffocating, and there
seems to be only a trembling sheet of blue steel between us and the
lower regions. Indeed, were it not for the electric fan in my cabin I
should be unable to write. Outside upon deck we have double roofs
of canvas to protect us from the sun, and many of the passengers
sleep up there to escape the heat of the rooms below. Last night, in
addition to the heat, we had to contend with a sandstorm, which
covered our ship with red dust so fine that it got through the
portholes and even into our beds. That storm came from Arabia, and
may have swallowed some of the thousands of Mohammedan
pilgrims on their way to Mecca.
As our ship went through this mighty cauldron we passed Jidda, in
Arabia, where, according to the Mohammedans, Eve lies buried.
With the ship’s glass we could almost see the place where lies the
greatest grandmother of all mankind. She rests outside the city wall
in a tomb four hundred feet long and a mosque rises over her dust.
The Mohammedan story has it that when Adam and Eve were
banished from the Garden of Eden a strong west wind wafted the
fairy form of Eve to Arabia, while Adam, with his heavier weight, fell
down in Ceylon. There is a string of coral keys running from Ceylon
to Hindustan, still known as Adam’s Bridge, over which he started
out on his long hunt for Eve. It took him two hundred years to find
her, and the meeting was somewhere near Mecca. What became of
Adam’s bones the story does not say.
On the map, the Red Sea looks like a slit between Asia and Africa,
but this slit is actually two hundred miles wide in some places and
twelve hundred miles long, or nearly half the distance from Suez to
Mombasa, my destination on the east coast of Africa. Much of it is so
deep that if the Blue Ridge Mountains were set in it only their higher
peaks would show. It is so long that if it began at Ireland and
extended westward across the Atlantic, it would reach halfway to
Canada. If it could be lifted up and laid down upon the United States
with Suez at Philadelphia, Bab-el-Mandeb would be a hundred miles
or so beyond Omaha, Nebraska, and all the way between would be
a canal as wide as from New York to Washington, or wide enough to
accommodate all the navies of the world abreast, and leave a
hundred miles or more to spare.
This great waterway narrows almost to a point at each end. At
Bab-el-Mandeb, where it leaves the Indian Ocean, it is no wider than
the English Channel at Dover; at the north it is lost at the Suez
Canal. Starting at Bab-el-Mandeb, the coasts broaden out and then
run almost straight to the upper end, where they fork into two gulfs
inclosing the lower part of the Sinai Peninsula. These two gulfs are
those of Suez and Akabah. The Gulf of Suez is one hundred and
seventy miles long, and has been joined to the Mediterranean by the
Suez Canal. The Gulf of Akabah is one hundred and ten miles long,
and for a time there was talk of making a canal from it to the
Mediterranean.
The air on the Red Sea is so salty that one can almost eat eggs
without seasoning. If one hundred pounds of its waters are boiled
down, four pounds of salt will be found in the bottom of the kettle.
The evaporation is so great that were it not for the inflow of the
Indian Ocean the sea would, within less than a century, vanish in the
air and leave in its place one immense block of salt.
I had expected to find the Red Sea coasts more thickly populated.
There are no cities of any size and very few villages. Suez has large
docks, but its trade is small, and it has nothing like the growth which
men thought would come with the use of the canal.
Have you ever heard of the town of Kosseir? It is a Red Sea port
on the west coast some distance south of Suez which at one time
had a great trade. It was formerly the end of a caravan route from
the Nile, and the Children of Israel crossed over that way and took
boats for the Sinai Peninsula to reach the mountains where Moses
received the Commandments.
To-day Kosseir is a stopping place for Egyptian pilgrims on their
way to Jidda. It used to be much more important in that respect than
now. It had many inns and hotel tents outside, and was well supplied
with dancing girls and the other side-show features of a true
pilgrimage centre. Then the Suez Canal came and killed it. Its big
houses fallen to ruins, the port has become a village of one-story
huts. There are emerald mines near it, however, and the desert
about shows evidences of having been once worked for gold.
I regret that I was not able to stop at Jidda, the port of Mecca, to
which I have already referred. It is one of the most interesting places
on the Red Sea, for one hundred thousand or more pilgrims pass
through it every year. While at Omdurman, in the Sudan, I saw
something like fourteen hundred Mohammedans on their way by
railroad across the Nubian Desert to Port Sudan where they
expected to get a ship for Jidda. Some of them had been ten years
on the way, yet their religious enthusiasm had not waned. They had
started out upon camels from the borders of Timbuktu and had been
forced to sell their mounts to buy food. After that they had walked
from oasis to oasis earning enough money to carry them onward.
There were so many in the party that the British government officials
had to divide them up into batches and send on a trainload or so at a
time.
In the centuries since the worship of Mohammed began millions of
pilgrims have walked over the sixty-five miles of hot sand from Jidda
to Mecca. Worshippers go thither from all parts of North Africa and
from the eastern coast of the Mediterranean as well as from India
and southern Arabia. Jidda takes her toll from each of them. The
people live by fleecing the devotees. The town, though full of hotels,
is noted for its discomforts. It has a poor water supply and after each
big rain there is an epidemic of fever.
The projected railroad from Jidda to Mecca will probably pay well,
for the travel is enormous. Twenty-five years ago more than sixty
thousand Mohammedans came annually by sea to make their way
over the sands to Mecca and Medina. There are perhaps half again
as many more to-day, and the railroad will so reduce the cost of the
trip that the number of worshippers will be greatly increased. Indeed,
the day may come when some Mohammedan tourist agent will be
selling to pilgrims from all parts of the Moslem world round-trip
tickets to the birthplace of the Prophet, including admission to the
Kaaba.
With Mecca accessible by railroad there may be a chance for
Christians to visit the holy city of Islam. All who have been there in
the past have had to go in disguise, and the man who would attempt
it to-day takes his life in his hand. The railroad will be officered by
Mohammedans, and it is doubtful whether they will take Christians
as passengers. They will have to cater to the pilgrims, as it is from
them that their traffic must come.
Meantime, without wishing to act as did the fox who called the
grapes sour, I do not believe there is much to see in Mecca, after all.
The town lies in a hot, arid valley watered for most of the year by a
few brackish wells and some cisterns. The best water, which comes
in from Arafat through a little aqueduct, is sold at high prices by a
water trust at the head of which is the governor of the city.
Mecca, I am told, has only about fifty thousand inhabitants. It fills
the valley and runs up the sides of the hills. The houses are of dark
stone, built in one, two, and three stories overhanging close to the
streets. There are no pavements; it is often dusty, and one would
have to feel all the holiness of the surroundings to make life
agreeable for him in such an unattractive spot.
The most important place in Mecca is the sacred mosque and the
most important thing in the mosque is the Kaaba, a cube-shaped
stone building which stands in its centre. In the southeast corner of
this building, at about five feet from the ground, is the black
meteorite that the Mohammedans say was once a part of the Gates
of Paradise. When Adam was cast out, this stone fell with him,
dropping down near Mecca. At that time, they say, it was a beautiful
white colour, but it is now turned to jet, having been blackened by the
kisses of sinners. Every pilgrim who comes to Mecca presses his lips
to it again and again, imagining that as he does so his sins go out of
him into the stone, and his soul becomes as pure as it was when he
was a baby. There are several hundred thousand pilgrims who
perform this act every season, so that the holy stone of the Kaaba
gets its millions of kisses each year. What a load of sin it must carry!
 CHAPTER XXVII
ALONG THE AFRICAN COAST

The two chief ports on the African coast of the Red Sea are Port
Sudan and Suakim. They were nothing until the completion of the
Red Sea road. The original plan was to use Suakim as the terminus
of the Sudan railway. The English surveyors, however, finding a
much better harbour at Port Sudan, extended the railroad to that
point. The town which was a mere village a few years ago has now
several thousand people, and grows like one of the mushroom
settlements of the Canadian west.
Going on southward we passed the Italian possessions on the
west coast of the Red Sea, where they have a colony known as
Eritrea. This colony begins about one hundred and fifty miles south
of Suakim and runs down almost to the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. It is
not wide, extending back from the coast only to where the
Abyssinian hills begin. The Italians tried to add to Eritrea a large part
of Abyssinia but failed, owing to the resistance of King Menelik. The
land they have now is of small value. There are only a few tracts that
can be irrigated, and the exports are unimportant. The strip is
inhabited by nomads, who raise camels, oxen, sheep, and goats. As
the pasturage is scanty, the shepherds have to move about from
place to place with their stock. Some of the tribes live in tents. Their
wants are simple to an extreme.
The chief Italian port is Massawa, a little town situated on a coral
island joined to the mainland by a causeway. Its two short railways,
which connect it with the Abyssinian hills, comprise about forty-eight
miles of track. One road is to be continued to the town of Asmara,
near which some gold mines have been opened.
The Italians have built a telegraph line from their port to Addis
Abbaba, the capital of Abyssinia, and they are trying to increase their
trade with that country. They are shipping considerable salt, which,
strange to say, is so relished by the Abyssinians that it brings more
than sugar and takes much the same place among them as candy
and tobacco with us. The average Abyssinian carries a stick of rock
salt with him and takes a suck of it between whiles. If he meets a
friend, he asks him to have a taste of his salt stick and his friend
brings out his individual stick and they take lick about. It is just as it
was with snuff in the days of our forefathers, when everyone offered
his friends a pinch of his choice macaboy.
Besides Eritrea Italy owns another and larger strip of East Africa.
This is Italian Somaliland, which begins at the mouth of the Gulf of
Aden and runs down to the border of the British coast possessions.
We shall pass it on our way to Mombasa. Italian Somaliland, though
about three times as large as Ohio, has a population only two thirds
that of the city of Cleveland, and is of little value. The people, who
are largely nomadic, are engaged in cattle raising and agriculture.
If you will look on the map, you will see that the Gulf of Aden
seems to rest on a shelf-like projection jutting out from the African
continent. This projection reaches into the Indian Ocean for a
distance of seven hundred and eighty miles, and is sometimes called
the “Great Horn of Africa.” It ends in Cape Guardafui, of which we
shall have a good view from our steamer as it leaves the gulf and
starts south.
The cape is a mighty bluff rising almost straight up from the blue
waters of the Indian Ocean. Its sides are of black rock, ragged and
rugged, and its top is covered with sand. There is sand at its foot and
lodged in the crevices, making yellow streaks against the black
background. Beyond the cape extend sandy hills which swell over
one another until they are lost in the distance. The country all about
is desert. Neither trees, bushes, habitations, nor animals are to be
seen. The clouds hang low over the cape, and out at sea the air is as
moist as that of Virginia in April. Seen from the ocean, the bluff
assumes the outlines of a sleeping lion with its tail in the sand. Still
farther out it looks like a fortification towering over the sea. One
hundred and thirty miles to the eastward, on the direct route to India,
is Sokotra Island, owned by the British.
 We went on southward, passing British Somaliland, a country a
little larger than the State of Missouri, with a population of several
thousand Mohammedan nomads who roam about from pasture to
pasture with their cattle and camels. The colony came into the hands
of the British after the war with the Mahdi, having belonged before
that to Egypt. It was first administered by the government of India,
but it is now managed directly from London.
 Fifty years ago Suez, where canal and Red Sea meet and “East of Suez”
begins, was a miserable Arab village. Now it is a city where several thousand
Europeans share the general dreariness of this hot and desolate spot.
 When two ships meet, one usually stops close to the bank and lets the other
pass. In places the sides are lined with stones to prevent slides, and dredges are
at work all the time keeping the channel clear.

Back of the European colonies that fringe the coast lies Abyssinia,
one of the most interesting countries of the Black Continent. With the
exception of Liberia, it is the only one that is independent of Europe.
Recognized by the Powers as a self-governing state, it has been
able to preserve its native monarchy. Everyone in America has heard
of the famous King Menelik II, founder of the present government,
and the name is still one to conjure with in that country. It is said that
an Abyssinian can stop another from whatever he happens to be
doing by calling out to him: “Ba Menelik,” or “In the name of Menelik.”
There are penalties for using this formula frivolously, and the one so
doing may be called upon to justify his action before a judge.
The empire of Abyssinia consists of a mighty plateau ten times as
large as the State of Ohio, from which rise many high mountains.
The country might be called the roof of the continent, and has so
much beautiful scenery that it has been dubbed the African
Switzerland. The plateau consists of great tablelands rising one
above the other and cut up by great gorges and mighty canyons
somewhat like those of the Rockies. In the centre of the plateau is
Lake Tsana, and down its sides flow great rivers, some of which are
lost in the sands while others, such as the Atbara and the Blue Nile,
give food and water to Egypt. The Blue Nile has its source in Lake
Tsana.
Abyssinia has some of the best soil of Africa. It is, in fact, a fertile
island in the midst of a sea of deserts and swamps. It will grow
almost anything, including sugar and cotton in the lowlands, coffee
higher up, and still higher the hardy grains of the temperate zone.
This country is said to be the first home of the coffee plant. It has a
province called Kaffa, whence the first coffee beans were carried to
Arabia. The word “coffee” comes from the name of that province. In
Kaffa, coffee trees grow so large that they are used for timber. In
some places they grow wild. In others the coffee is cultivated.
At present Abyssinia is almost unexplored, but its opening and
development are assured, and it may become one of the tourist and
hunting resorts of the future. The land is especially interesting to us
in that most of the Abyssinians are Christians, their religion being
about the same as that of the Copts of Egypt.
 CHAPTER XXVIII
ADEN

Leaving the Red Sea at the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, we came to

Aden, Arabia, and thence went on down along the coast of the
Indian Ocean to Mombasa. The very best of our Mocha coffee is
shipped from Aden to the United States. It comes here on camels
from the province of Yemen, where it is raised by the natives, each
family having a few bushes about its hut and producing only enough
for home use and a little for trading.
There are no big plantations and no coffee factories. When ripe
the berries are gathered and dried in the sun. After this they are put
up in bales, and carried on camelback over the hills to this place.
They are then hulled between millstones turned by hand, and
winnowed and sorted for shipment. The latter work is done by the
women, who look over each grain carefully, taking out the bad ones.
Labour is cheap, but the coffee has to go through many hands. It has
to pay toll to the chiefs of the tribes who own the country through
which it is carried, so it must be sold at high prices. For this reason
we have imitations of Mocha coffee from all parts of the world.
For many years this port of Aden has belonged to John Bull, who
took possession of it in 1839, and later got hold of the island of
Perim in the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb also. That island is about a
hundred miles from Aden and the two places practically control the
entrance to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. As for Aden, it is the
Gibraltar of this part of the world, as well as one of the greatest of
the British coaling stations. The harbour is excellent, and the outer
entrance is more than three miles wide. The inner waters have been
dredged so that steamers of twenty-six feet draft can go everywhere,
and there is room enough for all the vessels that pass through the
canal to anchor here at one time.
 Aden is strongly fortified. The town, which stands on a volcanic
isthmus, is guarded by a broad ditch cut out of the solid rock. It has a
garrison of several thousand soldiers, guns of the latest pattern, and
no one knows how many submarine mines and other defences
against attack.
But no matter what its military importance, Aden is the sorriest city
I have ever seen. There is nothing like it except Iquique on the
nitrate coast of South America, and Iquique is a paradise compared
with Aden. Imagine a great harbour of sea-green water, the shores of
which rise almost abruptly into ragged mountains of brown rock and
white sand. There is not a blade of grass to be seen, there are no
trees, and even the cactus and sage brush of our American desert
are absent. The town is without vegetation. It is as bare as the bones
of the dead camels in the sandy waste behind it, and its tropical sun
beats down out of a cloudless African sky. Everything is gray or a
dazzling white. The houses on the sides of the hills are white, the
rocks throw back the rays of the sun, and the huts upon their sides
are of the same gray colour as themselves.
 Each year thousands of Moslems from North and East Africa make the
pilgrimage to this city of Mecca. They worship at the shrines sacred to Islam, chief
among which is the Kaaba, containing the Holy Rock.
 Aden is in the land of the camel, and processions of them come into the city
every day, bringing coffee and gums. Eighteen miles is a day’s journey for the
average freight animal, but those used for riding go much farther.

The city looks thirsty and dry. It is dry. There is only a well or so in
the place, and these, I am told, the English bought of their owners for
something like one million dollars. Almost all of the water used is