Browsing by Subject "ruokaneofobia"

Objectives.The aim of this study is to qualitatively study the experiences of Makumestari tour's visitors. Makumestari tour was organised by Ruokakulttuurikeskus Ruukku Ry. The research findings will evaluate the success of the event and will provide development suggestions for the future Makumestari tour events. Furthermore, visitors' thoughts based on how the event can have an impact on children's food habits will be evaluated in this study. Insufficient diet and lack of vegetables in the diet are the most common problems concerning children and families' food habits. The aim of the flavour education, based on Sapere method, is to provide food education to children, diversify families' diets, and to eliminate neophobia. All this is meant to be carried out with children enjoying themselves with learning. Methodology. Material of this study was collected by interviewing children and adults visiting Makumestari events in Autumn 2015. Adults and children were interviewed in small groups, in six different cities. Interviews were executed after visitors had performed series of tasks concerning different human basic senses. 66 groups and total of 165 people including 93 adults, 41 girls and 31 boys were interviewed for the study. Material was analysed with the content analysis through arranging material by themes and categories based on research questions. Results and conclusions. According to the study Makumestari tour was a successful and well organized event. The event was believed to increase interest towards food, widen notions about food and decrease food neophobia. The event helped people to understand their own senses and people learnt to recognise how important every sense is when it comes to food. In this event children seemed to have the courage to taste new flavours and the children are believed to continue trying new flavours in the future due to the event. The visitors found the event useful and important. On the other hand, visitors were concerned whether the event only reaches people who are already interested in food and healthy eating habits and questioned if the one single event is enough to change people's food habits permanently. In the future the events should be arranged more regularly at public places or in schools and nurseries in order for the event to reach a wider audience.