Cross‐Cultural Comparisons among the Sensory Characteristics of Fermented Soybean Using Korean and Japanese Descriptive Analysis Panels

Abstract

One of the most important initial steps in exporting a food product to another country from the R&D perspective is to describe and translate the sensory characteristics of a food product appropriately into the language of the target country. The objectives of this study were to describe and compare the sensory characteristics of Korean and Japanese style fermented soybean products, and to cross-culturally compare the lexicons of the identical product generated by the Korean and Japanese panelists. Four types of Korean and 4 types of Japanese style fermented soybean consisting of whole bean type and paste type were analyzed. Ten Korean and 9 Japanese panelists were recruited in Korea. Two separate descriptive analyses were conducted, with the panelists differing in their country of origin. Each group was trained, developed lexicon, and conducted descriptive analysis independently. Analysis of variance and various multivariate analyses were applied to delineate the sensory characteristics of the samples and to compare the cross-cultural differences in the usage of lexicon. The Korean and Japanese panelists generated 48 and 36 sensory attributes, respectively. Cross-cultural consensus was shown for evaluating the whole bean type fermented soybean and white miso, which were relatively distinctive samples. However, for the less distinctive samples, the panelists tend to rate higher in negative attributes for the fermented soybeans that originated from the other country. The Japanese panelists grouped the samples by their country of origin and soy sauce flavor was the main attribute for cross-cultural differentiation. However, the Korean panelists did not make a cross-cultural distinction among the samples.

A cross-cultural comparison of the sensory characteristics of perilla oil by American, Chinese, and Korean panels

“…Similarly, the American panel used original attributes, including roasted corn, nuts, red wine, and pumpkin. It has been observed in other cross-cultural studies that panelists choose peculiar descriptors drawn from their personal experiences to describe the unfamiliar sensory characteristics of a foreign product (18,25) and sometimes use idiosyncratic words that relate to personal experiences when a stimulus is unfamiliar (2). Result of the MFA on the set of samples: MFA was applied to the descriptive analysis data from the Korean, Chinese, and American panels to delineate the associations between perilla oil samples and their sensory characteristics.…”

“…A total of 7 solutions were presented, with spring water used once as a control. The panelists were allowed to continue participation in the study if they identified more than 60% of the solutions correctly (18). Four panelists in total (1 Korean, 2 Chinese, and 1 American) were removed from the study at the end of the training period due to poor performance.…”

“…To evaluate the odor of the perilla oil samples, the panelists partially opened the lid of the serving cup, sniffed 3 times, and closed the lid immediately (18). The intensity of each attribute was rated using a 15-point category scale ranging from 1 (weak) to 15 (strong) (21).…”

“…Thus, improvements in export strategies for oil extracted from perilla seeds which are mainly produced in Korea can be directly linked to the promotion of a high-value-added industry. In this context, understanding how the potential consumers of perilla oil in targeted export countries perceive and describe the sensory characteristics of the product is a key to successful product development, especially in the context of increasing trade and globalization (18). However, there have been no studies evaluating cross-cultural perceptions of perilla oil products.…”

Sensory characteristics and consumer acceptability of perilla porridges

“…In addition, it is essential for food developers to understand how the consumers of a target export country perceive and describe the sensory characteristics of the product (14). In this context, interest in cross-cultural sensory studies has grown in recent years (15,16), and a number of studies have compared the sensory profiles of different cultures in European, American (17)(18)(19), and Asian countries (20,21).…”