This shows that people who love the taste of soy can be profiled by the other foods they eat and by their cooking habits. This information is important for targeting efforts.

Abstract

While insufficient protein consumption is a concern to many demographic segments in developed countries, it is a greater concern in developing nations where the cost or availability of traditional forms of animal protein results in protein deficiencies.

Soy is a low-cost, highly available protein source, yet it is largely overlooked because of its unfamiliar taste and texture. To determine how to best encourage soy consumption, a convenience sample of 132 Indians and Pakistanis living in the United States was examined for insights in to what characterizes someone who regularly eats soy for taste-related reasons.

Three groups of consumers were analyzed, people who ate soy primarily for taste-related reasons, those who ate it primarily for health-related reasons, and those who did not eat it. People who ate soy primarily for taste-related reasons were found to be more likely to appreciate fine food, to live with a great cook, and to be more of an opinion leader than did those in either of the other two groups. These along with additional findings have implications for targeting soy-predisposed consumers, who will adopt soy for the long-term, and who can influence others because of their role as opinion-leaders within their peer or reference group.

Summary

Encouraging Soy Consumption in Developing Countries:
The Role of Taste in Regular Soy Consumption

What characterizes someone who regularly eats soy? This is the question researchers tried to answer to better understand how to encourage soy protein consumption in developing countries. Soy is a low-cost, highly available protein source, yet it is largely overlooked because of its unfamiliar taste and texture.

An academic article published in the Pakistan Journal of Nutrition in 2002 shows that focusing nutritional education efforts on a general population will be much less effective than if these efforts are instead focused on a more targeted-group.

To determine how to best encourage soy consumption, the study examined 132 Indians and Pakistanis and found three groups of consumers: 1) people who ate soy primarily for taste-related reasons (21%), 2) those who ate it primarily for health-related reasons (48%), and 3) those who did not eat it (31%).*

People who ate soy primarily for its taste were found to be more likely to spend more time preparing food, to live with a great cook, and to appreciate fine dining. Moreover, they claimed themselves to be more adventurous and more likely to be considered an opinion-leader among their peers than did those in either of the other two groups.

“The taste of soy is something people can learn to like,” said Dr. Brian Wansink, director of the Food and Brand Lab. “Instead of focusing efforts on encouraging people to eat soy for health reasons, a more productive method may be to target the types of people who are more likely to prefer it for taste-related reasons.”

For more information see Wansink, Brian and JaeHak Cheong (2002), “Taste Profiles That Correlate with Soy Consumption in Developing Countries,” Pakistan Journal of Nutrition, 1:6 (December), 276-278. The published version of this article is available at http://www.pjbs.org/pjnonline/fin68.pdf

Contact
Brian Wansink, PhD
Food and Brand Lab, Director
110 Warren Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
Email: foodandbrandlab@cornell.edu

*This study was conducted at the University of Illinois, former location of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab.

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