Consumers’ Perceptions and Preferences for Bitterness in Vegetable Foods: The Case of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil and Brassicaceae—A Narrative Review

Abstract

The presence of some healthy phytochemicals in food can be paired with high bitterness, and consumers have a widespread avoidance toward bitter-tasting food. This causes a gap between preferences and healthy needs of consumers. Therefore, this review collected insights from literature belonging to different discipline domains in order to have a broad view of the current state-of-the-art about biochemical aspects and consumers’ perceptions and preferences toward foods with an enhanced bitter taste. In detail, we focused on two core products of the Mediterranean diet: Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) and Brassicaceae, both characterized by specific phytochemicals having strong healthy properties and bitter-pungent taste. Results suggested that, although bitter taste is a general driver of dislike, some exceptions can be represented by: niches of consumers (e.g., innovators and organic buyers), foods consumed with specific purposes (e.g., coffee, chocolate, and alcoholic beverages). The level of bitterness perceived by the consumers can be modulated through exposure, information on benefits, and elements within the environment (e.g., music). Thus, these insights can be used to develop specific campaigns aimed at promoting bitter (healthy) food, considering also the key role that could be played by food pairings.

Premium, popular and basic olive oils: mapping product segmentation and consumer profiles for different classes of olive oil

“…In our study it emerges that even the characteristics of spiciness and bitterness can be moderately appreciated by premium olive oil consumers. This result appears consistent with a recent contribution by Cavallo et al (2019), where the authors found that even though bitterness is a little or unappreciated sensory characteristic, there exists a limited consumer niche market that seems to appreciate bitter-tasting foods, such as coffee, chocolate and alcoholic beverages, probably because these consumers are conscious of the high health properties deriving from a bitter or pungent taste (Cavallo et al, 2019). Consequently, our results introduce the idea that this trend also involves olive oil consumers, given that bitter taste has been detected as a characteristic of interest to a niche group of olive oil consumers.…”

Innovation in traditional foods: A laboratory experiment on consumers’ acceptance of extra-virgin olive oil extracted through ultrasounds

“…Past researches showed that the most important attributes guiding consumer choices are place of origin, sensory profile, brand and production technique (Caporale and Monteleone, 2001;Dekhili and d'Hauteville, 2009;Del Giudice et al, 2015;Finardi et al, 2009;Menapace et al, 2011;Mtimet et al, 2011;Ranalli et al, 1999;Ribeiro and Santos, 2004;Muñoz et al, 2015;Salazar-Ordóñez et al, 2018a). Focusing on taste, despite bitter and pungent sensory features can be an indicator of superior healthy quality of the product, these characteristics are not always preferred by consumers (Cavallo et al, 2019). While, being EVOO a traditional food product, consumers generally appreciate innovations such as organic farming or integrated pest management but could negatively evaluate a process innovation.…”

“…In particular, full scale studies showed that the use of ultrasounds for the extraction of EVOO is a technology capable of improving both the efficiency of the process -through higher extraction yields, shorter processing times, reduced operating and maintenance costs -and the quality of final product with higher content in polyphenolic compounds which are important for their antioxidant effects. The ultrasound treatment also affects sensory characteristics of EVOO by lowering the intensity of pungency and bitterness which are not well appreciated by a part of consumers (Cavallo et al, 2019;Salazar--Ordóñez et al, 2018b;Vázquez-Araújo et al, 2015).…”

Chocolate Consumers and Lymphocyte-to-Monocyte Ratio: A Working Hypothesis from a Preliminary Report of a Pilot Study in Celiac Subjects

“…It is well known that in cacao polyphenolic compounds show both bitter and astringent characteristics, with a rejection threshold depending on percentage of cocoa in chocolate [33]. However, products with a psychoactive effect (such as coffee and chocolate) are generally preferred, regardless of their bitterness, and traits of consumers and health concerns could affect food preferences of bitter in vegetable foods [34]. Moreover, the relationship between TAS1R2/TAS1R3 and intake of sweet-tasting foods may be different across different populations [35,36].…”