Owing to consumers' neophobic responses, successfully launching an ethnic food onto a foreign market is challenging. Information may increase the liking of an ethnic food by decreasing uncertainty about it. This study investigated whether information influences Malaysian consumers' acceptance of and familiarity with Korean ethnic food. Two traditional Korean noodle products were evaluated by 212 Malaysian consumers with different levels of prior experience with Korean food. Familiarity and overall liking were assessed in blind and informed settings. The results showed that previous experience, not information, significantly increased consumer acceptance and familiarity. Information moderated the effect of previous experience, increasing the liking of and familiarity with the ethnic food among frequent consumers of Korean food, but decreasing them among infrequent users. It seems that previous experience helps consumers to form favorable expectations and to expect product performance close to the actual performance, resulting in an assimilation effect in the presence of information. Practical applications Successful market entry of an ethnic food requires a systematic approach based on understanding of consumers in a target country. This study presents results relevant to understanding of Asian consumers' liking and perception of ethnic foods. It was identified that information influenced liking by creating expectation rather than by familiarizing consumers, and also that the effect of information was moderated by personal experiences with cuisine of the country which the ethnic food product is originated from. Results of this study suggest that different strategies for delivering information, such as label and product description, should be developed according to the target consumers' level of experiences. Findings from the present study have implications for researchers and marketers in the ethnic food market with regard to presentation of information congruent to actual sensory performances to increase acceptance of an unfamiliar ethnic food.

Various strategies for replacing sugar with naturally derived sweeteners are being developed and tested. In this study, the effect of the “functional sweetener” context, which is created by providing health-promoting information, on liking for the sweeteners was investigated using a cookie model system. Cookie samples were prepared by replacing the sugar of 100% sucrose cookies (control) with phyllodulcin, rebaudioside A, xylobiose and sucralose either entirely or partly. The sensory profile of the samples was obtained using descriptive evaluations. Hedonic responses to cookie samples were collected from 96 consumers under blind and informed conditions. Replacement of 100% sucrose with rebaudioside A or phyllodulcin significantly increased bitterness but replacement of 50% sugar elicited sensory characteristics similar to those of the control. Although the “functional sweetener” context did not influence overall liking, liking for the samples was more clearly distinguished when information was provided. Consumers were segmented into three clusters according to their shift in liking in the informed condition: when information was presented, some consumers decreased their liking for sucralose cookies, while other consumers increased or decreased their liking for sucrose cookies. Results suggest that the influence of information varies among individual consumers and that cognitive stimulation, such as health-promoting information, affects liking.