Exploration of Cross-cultural Perception of Spicy Chicken Made Using Hot Sauces with Different Degrees of Flavor Familiarity in Korean and US Consumers

The objective of this study was to explore the role of familiarity in cross-cultural product perception and perception changes according to food systems (hot sauce and spicy-chicken) in Korean and US consumers. Free choice profiling was conducted by Korean and US consumers on four spicy-chicken samples made using four hot sauce samples. Half of the hot sauce samples were selected to be more familiar to US consumers and vice versa to Korean consumers. A previous study that investigated cross-cultural perceptions of the same four hot sauce samples in US and Korean consumers was incorporated in this study. For distinct sample differences, US and Korean consumers perceived products similarly. However, for less obvious differences, flavor familiarity seemed to affect consumers’ product perceptions. In addition, product perceptions changed more dramatically according to food systems for familiar samples in each country. The findings of this study show that consumers’ product perception can be affected by flavor familiarities.