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Demographic and socioeconomic changes, and health issues, promote interest in emerging countries for healthy foods, taking traditional foods under the perspective of functional foods. Amaranth has moved from local to a wider consumption as a functional food. The purpose of this paper is to identify consumers’ perception about amaranth and its relation to consumption motives.

A questionnaire was applied to 610 respondents, and free word association determined their perception about amaranth through categories. Cluster analysis identified groups of consumers according to their motives for consumption. Global χ² and correspondence analysis related consumers’ perceptions in the groups were identified.

A total of 16 word categories reflected consumers’ perception about amaranth. Most mentioned were: Traditional product, Hedonism and Health and well-being. Three groups showed significant differences regarding motives of consumption. It is concluded that perceptions about amaranth are closely linked to the motives of consumption. Perceptions of health benefits are related to motives for health issues and taste. There is a group that still consumes amaranth perceived as a traditional food.

As a functional food, these results could be useful to promote amaranth from its perception as healthy. Producers might develop products based on amaranth that meet perceptions considering gender and age in Mexico and other emergent countries.

This work contributes knowledge to international research that analyses traditional foods as functional foods and consumer perceptions on these. It is a first approach to identify perceptions of Mexican consumers towards amaranth as a traditional and a functional food.

The study aims to identify the perceived authenticity of cheeses by consumers of different sociological generations in Mexico.

An online questionnaire was applied to 1,204 consumers. A Free Word Association (FWA) tool was used to determine the perceived authenticity of cheeses creating categories and dimensions. The sample was segmented into sociological generations. A chi-square test and a correspondence analysis were used to identify differences in the perception between generations. The information was complemented with word clouds of the cheeses mentioned and consumer testimonials about cheese consumption.

A total of 29 categories and ten dimensions revealed consumers' perception of cheese authenticity, most important of which were hedonic, rurality and new consumption. Authenticity is a mix of the pleasure of consuming the product, the link to rural life and new consumer values. Perceived authenticity is different in each sociological generation according to the dimensions of raw material, identity, market, new consumption and distrust, since it is related to the experiences of each generation. The results made it possible to contextualise another vision of the reality of the cheeses in the search for a quality seal.

The information contributes to the typification and promotion of cheeses in the process of patrimonialisation, by creating differentiated marketing tools that allow their valorisation.

This work contributes to the knowledge of the perceived authenticity of cheeses in the sociological generations, due to their differentiation by age, sociocultural, ethical, political and consumer aspects. It enables the knowledge of the consumer's perspective on these products.

This chapter is focused in a methodological frame to study the practices of entrepreneurial agents and the startups in nontechnological sectors in the middle-income countries. The startup of ideas involves three phases that comprise the first life cycle of a possible company considering too sociocultural aspects as external factors implied in the creation, prototype, and entry to markets. In Latin America, the type of risks experienced by companies in their early stages of life and incubation are not known in a timely manner. The lack of information on entrepreneurship and its agents in countries such as Mexico also inhibits visualization of heterogeneity of contexts to business development, and how some regions are more propensity to boost startups than others, in different sectorial and branches of knowledge. Mexico like rest countries in Latin America has a high percentage of SMEs focused in sectors that are innovative but not are participating in the last technological waves. For this reason, it is necessary to know how these agents prepare, manage, and apply entrepreneurship in accordance with institutional, technological, and sociocultural dispositions to structure their experiences and make more vigorous the territorial entrepreneurial. Small and medium businesses are building new paths taking advantage of territorial and cultural opportunities. Applying the framework proposed in the last part of this chapter is presented a case of study of an entrepreneur oriented to craft brewer production in Tijuana, Mexico.

The purpose of this chapter is to illustrate the contribution made by migrants in the territory that hosts them, particularly when they transfer their knowledge to members of the community. In the specific case of the sea urchin fishery, it is described how the Morishita family in Baja California undertakes the sea urchin value chain, from the location of population banks to the commercialization of the product in the Japanese market and, by therefore, the promotion of development in rural places while starting a culture of export and currency generation. An adventure of opportunities that has been successful for more than 50 years, whose origin is the sustainable use of “a plague” that today is a delicacy for many.

This review aims to summarize some of the relevant methodologies used to study traditional foods evaluated from the consumers' perspective. The analysis provided in this review will shed light on the methods as a valuable tool to stimulate research in traditional to promote cultural and nutritional revaluation of these products.

A systematic literature review was performed on 60 articles related to the study of traditional foods from the consumer's perspective.

Ten methodologies were found that address the study of this product category. European countries lead the research in traditional foods while research in Latin America, Africa and Asia is still incipient.

This review shows the potential of each method to be applied in the study of traditional foods as well as the positive implications that research about these products could bring to regions/countries with a great diversity of traditional products.

This review reveals the need to approach the study of traditional foods and encourage future research on them, which in turn, will contribute to the cultural and integral development of local communities, even to the recovery of ingredients and local raw materials.