Browsing by Author "Rossi, Alexandra"

The study's aim was to find out how the Makumestari food event affected the food habits of the visitors. Previous studies have shown that the diet of Finnish children does not meet the nutrition recommendations. One major lack is in the daily intake of vegetables. Because food habits are developed in early childhood and they influence not only an individual's wellbeing but also the whole society's wellbeing, healthy habits should be taught at a young age. Information is a crucial factor of change but information alone is not enough. The Makumestari event offered joy of food and the opportunity to explore food items using the "makukoulu" technique. The data was collected using an online questionnaire. 124 visitors of the food event responded to the questionnaire. The questionnaire contained multiple-choice and open-ended questions so different kinds of analysis methods were used, such as calculating key ratios and correlation coefficients, principal component analysis and Kruskal-Wallis tests. The data collected via the open-ended questions was analysed using content analysis. The study shows that the Makumestari food event affected the food habits of approximately 30 % of the families who responded to the questionnaire. Variety in foods and more vegetables were added to the diets. Families also reported more conversations on food topics, trying out new recipes and using their senses while evaluating food. Principal component analysis and Kruskal-Wallis test results state that the visitors who responded to the questionnaire where interested in food or nutrition and had no need to change their daily diets because their diets were already healthy. People who wanted to eliminate something from their diets felt the key to the change was in their own hands and they only lacked motivation. Those who wanted their diets to become more diverse felt they needed more knowledge and better skills in order to execute these changes. The food event influenced the food habits of the visitors by giving them a personal experience on healthy eating.