Eleventh International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

Food dominates daily life as a necessity of survival and it is also a method of bonding and interaction used by people for centuries. It is also a formative pillar of culture, with cuisine playing a major role in the formation of national identity. However, the culinary perspective is often overlooked in the fields of cross-cultural science. Cuisine and culinary traditions range across borders and multiple dimensions. We define the degree to which culinary styles vary between cultures to be culinary culture distance. This study sets out to see how culinary culture distance affects people’s food preferences, as seen in international students in Poland. To achieve this, data will be collected using a stationary eye tracking device, which will record the a) number of fixations and b) temporal length of fixations of participants. Images of Chinese, Turkish, Polish and Ukranian dishes will be presented in a random order for free viewing. Additionally, heart rate data will be taken with a heart rate monitor, as well as electrodermal activity data taken with an electrodermal sensor. Four groups of participants will be selected: Ukrainian nationals (n = 20), Turkish nationals (n = 20) and Chinese nationals (n = 20), residing in Poland for at least 6 months, as well as a control group of Polish nationals (n = 20). Eye tracking data will be correlated with heart rate and electrodermal activity data, in order to gather complex objective data on food preferences based on physiological reactions to images of different dishes.