On being a foodie: development of the Foodie Index and association with personality and taste phenotype

Food neophobia: Higher responsiveness to sensory properties but low engagement with foods generally

“…However, the fact that The Foodie Index is positively correlated with food adventurousness (Pickering & Pickering, 2022)-defined in their study as frequency of trying unfamiliar foods -suggests that this is unlikely. A lack of food adventurousness is effectively diagnostic of FN, and this is reflected in such negative associations between FN and personality constructs such as sensation-seeking (Alley & Potter, 2011).…”

“…The 12 statements in The Foodie Index (TFI; Pickering & Pickering, 2022) are listed in Table 2, with subscales. In Pickering and Pickering (2022), Statements 1-5 are regarded as a single subscale called Enjoyment & interest. The present research considered T A B L E 1 Statements used to capture attitudes to sensory characteristics of foods (statements 1-12) and degree of liking (statement 13).…”

“…In order to obtain a sense of the importance of food overall to these consumers, we also asked participants to complete The Foodie Index (Pickering & Pickering, 2022), a measure of food involvement and enjoyment that is positively correlated with personality characteristics related to engagement with sensory experiences generally.…”

“…In order to obtain a sense of the importance of food overall to these consumers, we also asked participants to complete The Foodie Index (Pickering & Pickering, 2022), a measure of food involvement and enjoyment that is positively correlated with personality characteristics related to engagement with sensory experiences generally. This measure provides a complement to questions regarding specific food sensory properties by linking FN to overall attitudes to, and engagement with, foods themselves.…”

“…(a) rated their agreement with a series of statements that reflected their attitudes towards food sensory qualities, and (b) completed The Foodie Index (Pickering & Pickering, 2022) to obtain measures of food involvement and enjoyment. The results reinforced earlier findings that FN is related to an overall lower level of enjoyment of foods, and further revealed that: (a) evaluation of food sensory qualities prior to, or during, eating or sensory reasons for rejecting a food were positively related to FN, and (b) increasing disengagement with foods in terms of knowledge, interest, time and money spent on food as FN increases.…”