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The purpose of this paper is to analyse how Finnish customers at the pop-up restaurant event Trip to Province, which took place in South Ostrobothnia, Finland, make sense of the locality.

The data consist of 3 group interviews and 18 respondents, whose responses were analysed using a frame analysis.

Locality is discussed in the context of three frames: the immediate surroundings, the Finnish national ethos and the global discourses of food enthusiasts. The results show that, in terms of local food events, locality comprises not only food, but also place, people and cultural context conveying national and global elements.

The data of this study are limited in size, and limited to the Finnish context.

Local food events could be promoted to locals and nearby residents, not just to tourists. With the design of the eating environment (music and visuals), the local food experience can be enhanced.

Local food events strengthen the residents’ regional identity.

The research setting for this paper is original; the study takes part in the scarce discussion about gastronomic tourism in Finland. The study broadens the view that local food is just about food; regarding local food events, locality also entails place, people, nationality and globality.

This study aims to increase knowledge of the ability of nutrition labels to guide consumer choices in real-life environments.

Food consumption and plate waste data were collected from two self-service restaurants (SSR) with different customer groups over six observation days: three control and three intervention (with nutrition labelling) periods. Study Group 1 consisted of vocational school students, mostly late adolescents (N = 1,710), and Group 2 consisted of spa hotel customers, mostly elderly (N = 1,807). In the experimental restaurants, the same food was served to the buffets during the control and intervention periods.

The nutrition label in the lunch buffet guides customers to eat fewer main foods and salads and to select healthier choices. Increased consumption of taste enhancers (salt and ketchup) was observed in the study restaurants after nutritional labelling. Nutrition labelling was associated with a reduction in plate waste among the elderly, whereas the opposite was observed among adolescents.

The results provide public policymakers and marketers with a better understanding of the effects of nutrition labelling on consumer behaviour. Future studies should further evaluate the effects of nutrition labelling on the overall quality of customer diets and the complex environmental, social, and psychological factors affecting food choices and plate waste accumulation in various study groups.

This study aims to explore how certain consumer characteristics (dieting status, health motives and food values) together with products carrying ambivalent health and taste cues (light foods, convenience foods, “functional candies”) shape whether and why health and taste attributes are perceived as inclusive (“healthy is tasty” and “unhealthy is untasty”) or exclusive (“healthy is untasty” and “unhealthy is tasty”).

A qualitative methodology not yet applied in examining consumers’ healthiness and tastiness perceptions of food was employed. It included gathering three separate data sets through both personal and group interviews (N = 40).

Consumers’ dieting status, health motives and food values shape the perception of inclusivity and exclusivity of health and taste of light, convenience and candy products. Second, there are multiple sources for these perceptions including product type, ingredients, level of processing and marketing cues. These factors interact to produce a unique consumer understanding of the relationship between health and taste for each single food product.

To ensure optimal consumer response, food companies and health educators need to understand how different target groups form their inclusive/exclusive perceptions of health and taste for various foods.

The majority of pre-existing food consumption research supports imply that a good taste and a high degree of healthiness are incompatible with each other. The findings challenge this view. It appears that it is the “unhealthy is untasty” and “healthy is tasty” perceptions that predominate in certain consumer groups. A novel conceptual framework for understanding the ambivalence of health and taste perceptions in food consumption is offered.

This paper aims to extend current understanding concerning the cross-modal correspondences between sounds and tastes by introducing new research tools and experimental data to study associations and their reflections between music and taste.

The experiment design addresses the multidisciplinary approach by using cultural, chemical and statistical analysis methods.

The paper provides further evidence that exposure to the “sweet” or “sour” musical pieces influences people’s food-related thinking processes and behaviors. It also demonstrates that sweet or sour elements in the music may reflect to actual sweetness (as measured by sugar content) and sourness (as measured by organic acid content) of foods developed in association with music carrying similar taste characteristics.

The findings should be replicated and expanded using larger consumer samples and wider repertoires of “taste music” and dependent variables. Also, the level of experimental control should be improved; e.g., the “sweet” and “sour” music were produced using different instruments, which may have an influence to the results.

Ambient “taste music” that is congruent with the basic flavors of the dishes can be played in restaurants to highlight guests’ sensory experience.

By carefully considering the symbolic meanings of the music used in different social situations, it is possible to create multimodal experiences and even subconscious expectations in people’ minds.

Cross-modal associations are made between the tastes and music. This can influence on perception of food and provide new ways to build multimodal gastronomic experiences.