This study was conducted to understand the relationship between familiarity and cross-cultural acceptance for an ethnic sweet treat (Yackwa; Korean traditional cookie) by Korean, Japanese and French consumers. Descriptive analysis and consumer testing were performed on six Yackwa samples. Overall, the samples received favorable responses from the foreign consumers. Korean consumers liked samples with a soft and cohesive texture, whereas Japanese and French consumers liked flaky and crispy texture. French consumers rated stronger sweetness to be more appropriate for Yackwa compared to Korean and Japanese consumers. Texture liking was strongly correlated with familiarity rating in all three countries, indicating that the consumers' previous experience with similar products might affect their preference for certain textural attributes. Familiarity was correlated with all hedonic ratings by Korean consumers, who are most familiar with Yackwa, but with overall and texture liking by Japanese consumers and flavor and texture liking by French consumers. These results suggest that familiarity partly contributes to a foreign consumers' hedonic rating. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSGlobalization and cultural diversity have increased interest in ethnic foods. This trend is motivating food industries to expand into the ethnic food market sector. In this study, the sensory attributes and the cross-cultural acceptability of Yackwa (Korean traditional cookie) were evaluated and the potential role of familiarity in determining consumer acceptance was measured. The outcome of this study will help food exporters, R&D scientists and food marketers in ethnic food market to optimize an ethnic food for other cultural communities by educating them to consider familiarity as an important factor for product development and promotion. bs_bs_banner Journal of Sensory Studies * Standard deviation values are shown in parentheses. The highest and the lowest mean scores for a given sensory attribute were highlighted in bold. † Means of four replicates from the eight panelists; mean values within a row not sharing a superscript letter are significantly different (P < 0.05, Duncan's multiple range test). CROSS-CULTURAL ACCEPTANCE OF YACKWA J.H. HONG ET AL.

This study was conducted to investigate sensory perception of Korean traditional fried cookie (Yackwa) by two Korean consumer groups of different age (ages in 20s and ages in 30-40s). The sorted napping procedure was applied to evaluate a set of 12 commercial Yackwa samples. Each subject was asked to locate each sample based on perceived similarities and then group the samples according to her own criteria. Verbalization task for each group of samples was also carried out. Data obtained from the sorted napping test were subjected to hierarchical multiple factor analysis. Both groups differentiated the samples mainly according to textural properties resulting from their manufacturing type. However, the older group located the samples from the same company that produces Yackwa following traditional recipe close to each other even though their types were different, whereas the younger group sorted the samples mainly by the manufacturing type. This difference in perception between two age groups might have resulted from the fact that older consumers recognized the flavor of more traditional products better than the younger group due to more exposure to those products. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSThis study investigated consumer perception of Yackwa (traditional Korean cookie). It is expected that more consumer-based characterization, which is explained by their own words, can help researchers to understand what important sensory dimensions are for consumers. In addition, by comparing different consumer groups, this study will provide insight that can help to develop effective strategies for commercializing traditional foods for targeted generations of consumers.

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