Challenges in the popularization of wild food plants in Brazil: An examination from the perspectives of consumer science

Abstract

When associated with sustainable management strategies, wild food plants (WFP) have great potential to increase the income of local populations and diversify food systems. However, in the urban Brazilian context, most of these plants are still unknown or underutilized. This research aimed to identify biases in the acceptance of WFP-based food products. For this purpose, we conducted two experiments on expectation and acceptability evaluation. In the first, we prepared juices and sweet coconut (cocadas) from both WFPs and conventional plant products and tested whether the mixture of WFP + conventional plant creates greater expectation and acceptance by the consumers than products made only with WFP. We also identified the socioeconomic factors that influence expectation and acceptance. In the second experiment, we prepared juices with wild plants (cambuí and araçá) and conventional plants (acerola and guava) and tested whether the terminological association of WFP with conventional plants and terminological clues about forest origin influence the expectation and acceptance of the products. Our results indicate that gastronomic mixtures act as a barrier breaker for food neophobia and provide consumers with greater familiarity with the food, increasing the chances of incorporating WFP into the human diet. In general, older individuals, those with higher education and income, and non-neophobic individuals gave better ratings for appropriateness expectation, and all these variables, including male gender, gave better ratings for acceptance of WFP-based foods. The terminological association with a conventional plant did not influence the expectation and acceptability of the products. The terminological association with forest origin did not interfere with expectation and acceptance, but there was a negative influence of the indication of forest origin on flavor expectation for the neophobic group.