How does food neophobia affect local food preferences?

The term food neophobia is used to describe the behavior of individuals who exhibit a fear of new or unfamiliar foods. The phenomenon of food neophobia can influence the consumption of novel foods by tourists during their visits to unfamiliar destinations. This paper sets out to determine the moderating role of food neophobia in the effect of local food consumption value on attitudes and behavioral intentions towards local food. In this context, a questionnaire was used to measure the values, attitudes, behavioral intentions and food neophobia levels of 509 foreign tourists visiting Turkey (Istanbul province) towards Turkish food. The findings show that consumption values such as emotional, epistemic, health, taste/quality and price value the attitudes of foreign tourists towards local foods. In addition, food neophobia has a moderating role in the effects of health value and epistemic value on attitudes towards local foods.