Consuming "the good" products-urban consumers and rural provenance foods

Abstract

The global shift in consumers food preferences and determinants of food choice have been widely studied during the last few decades. This global shift is in line with the ‘quality turn’ identified by Goodman (2003) pointing out to a turn from mass consumption to a growing qualitative differentiation of food products. In this vein, labels as local, authentic, genuine, gourmet, specialty or environmentally have gain the attention of both consumers and retailers. Consumers’ food choices are increasingly guided by concerns with health, food safety, environmental protection, sustainability, authenticity, cultural traditions maintenance which makes rural provenance foodstuffs more and more appealing and demanded. Provenance is, therefore, a growing concern for consumers, often encompassing all the aforementioned dimensions. The growing interest of consumers in rural provenance foods goes together with the increasing number of small specialty food shops located within urban centres and selling these products both to residents and tourists. These stores may play an important part in fostering the consumption of rural provenance foodstuffs, promoting small-scale agriculture and linking consumers and producers in a closer and fruitful manner. However, studies on these shops’ role and characteristics are still scarce.
This paper derives from a research project that take the urban specialty food shops as the departure point, in order to typify the stores and understand their connections with producers and rural territories as well as their role in promoting consumer interest in rural provenance foods. Specifically, this paper intends to unveil consumers’ representations on rural provenance food products, their preferences and motivations. The evidence collected from survey directed to 1553 customers of 24 small urban specialty food shops located in Aveiro (5), Lisbon (9) and Porto (10) is in line with previous studies, demonstrating that Portuguese rural provenance food products are valued and demanded both by (mainly) urban Portuguese and overseas consumers which frequently buy these foodstuffs. Representations of these products often allude to their special character and quality, emphasising the sensorial (e.g. tasty; good; flavour) and differentiated symbolic features related to the products authenticity, localness, genuine nature and distinction, as well as to the sustainable, environmentally-friendly and artisanal character of the production. Representations often allude, as well, to cultural traditions related both to the know-how and ways of production and preparation of the products and to its embeddedness in particular territories. These evocations are coherent with the motivations to purchase rural provenance products, namely their taste, freshness, appearance, Portuguese and local origin, along with the support to national agriculture and rural areas and trust in the store and its specialized customer service. Less important (although still relevant) motivations are related to the brands and certification labels of the products, advertisement and knowledge of the producers. Wine, cheese, olive oil and sausages (especially ‘alheira’) are the most frequently purchased products. Trás-os-Montes (particularly Douro) and Alentejo are the most preferred regions for wine and olive oil, while Beira Interior, and especially the Serra da Estrela area, is also preferred for cheese and sausages. These three regions are also identified with more authentic, traditional, tasty, good, hand-made and sustainable food products.

Full text

Consuming “the good” products- urban
consumers and rural provenance foods
Elisabete Figueiredo, DCSPT –UA –elisa@ua.pt
Teresa Forte, DCSPT –UA, teresaforte@ua.pt
Joana Couto –DCSPT –UA, joanascouto@ua.pt
STRINGS - Selling The Rural IN (urban) Gourmet Stores –establishing new liaisons between
town and country through the sale and consumption of rural products (PTDC/GES-
OUT/29281/2017/ POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029281)

Introduction
➢Food preferences are increasingly meeting a so- called “quality
turn” (Goodman, 2003) –a shift away from mass consumption to a
growing qualitative differentiation of food products
➢This consumption trend has been accompanied by an increase,
in the last decade, of the number of specialty food stores in
urban contexts selling rural provenance food products (Figueiredo,
2021; Silva et al., 2021)

Introduction
➢Consumers’ food choices are increasingly guided by concerns with
➢health,
➢food safety,
➢environmental protection,
➢sustainability,
➢authenticity,
➢cultural traditions maintenance
➢which makes rural provenance foodstuffs more and more appealing and
demanded.
➢Provenance is, therefore, a growing concern for consumers, often encompassing
all the aforementioned dimensions

Objectives
➢To explore how the consumers of urban specialty food shops
represent rural provenance food products of portuguese
origin;
➢To characterize consumers’ preferences for rural
provenance food products and particular regions
➢To identify what motivates these consumers to acquire rural
provenance food products

Methods: Sample
➢1553 valid answers to a survey directed to the consumers
of 24 urban specialty food stores.
Porto (n=857, 55.2%)
Aveiro (n=414, 26.7%)
Lisbon (n=248, 16%).
➢These stores are distributed by three clusters identified from a
previous survey applied to the identified universe of these
stores (N= 113):
1)The Wine Focused
2) The Rural Provenance Focused
3) The Generalist

Main profile of consumers
➢51% women and 49% men
➢Portuguese (75.7%), predominantly from urban or predominantly urban
areas (92%)
➢Foreign consumers (24.3%) mainly from Brazil, Angola, France, Spain,
Germany, Netherlands and Mozambique.
➢Mainly between 31 and 40 years old (22, 9%) and between 61 and 70
years old (21.1%)
➢The majority (62.7%) has a profession or is retired (21.9%)
➢The majority concluded University education (50.4%)
➢Predominant Income level of less than 600€ (19.7%) followed by 601 to
1000 euros (11.8%)

Products purchased
Categories of
Products purchased
N %
Wine and other
Beverages 517 21.73
Cheese and other
milk derivatives 367 15.43
Cured Meat and other
animal-based
products 355 14.92
Vegetables. fruits.
herbs
and
derivatives
352 14.80
Sweets 203 8.53
Bread and cereal
products 171 7.19
Honey. Jams and
Preserves 115 4.83
Other 111 4.67
Olive oil 100 4.20
Crafts and similar
products 38 1.60
Hygiene. cosmetics
and similar products
28 1.18
Meat 22 0.92
➢The main products purchased are Wine,
cheese, cured meat (specially traditional
sausages) and vegetables), by
consumers from all socio-economic
strata.
➢Women appear to purchase more all the
products, except for cheese and olive oil
(more chosen by men) and dried fruits,
which are common purchases for both.
➢Portuguese consumers are, by far, those
who acquire more these products, except
in the case of honey, which is also quite
searched by foreigners. Overall, sausages
are the least searched products by
foreigner consumers.

NUTSII- NORTH- 45.33%
Trás-os-Montes (34%)
NUTSII-CENTRE- 38.0%
Beira Interior (21.7%)
NUTSII- ALENTEJO- 13.8%
Alentejo (13.9%)
NUTSII ALGARVE (0,4%) ( and MADEIRA, 0,1%)
NUTSII-LISBOA- 2.2%
Ribatejo and Oeste (3.6%)
AZORES (7.2%)
Regions of provenance of the Products
purchased

Rural Provenance food representations
50 more frequent words used to describe the
products
N%
Quality
975 37,00
Sensorial/
organoletic features of products 307 31,49
Distinction
and Authenticity 177 18,15
Nature
/Enviroment/Sustainability 167 17,13
Family
/Nostalgia 73 7,49
Chemically
free/ UnHealthy 69 7,08
Freshness
55 5,64
Selection
/Monotony 50 5,13
Regional, local, from specific places
46 4,72
Trustworthy
31 3,18
Products
933 35,41
Meat and animal
-based products 291 31,19
Cheese and other milk derivatives
248 26,58
Vegetables
, Cereals and Fruits 174 18,65
Wine
145 15,54
Honey
, Jams and Sweets 75 8,04
Type
of production 343 13,02
Hand
-made, Traditional, Experience and Know
-
how
179 52,19
Farmers
and Farming 110 32,07
Organic
54 15,74
Positive
attributes 321 12,18
General
quality 321 100,00
Gastronomy
and Cuisine 30 1,14
Origin
23 0,87
National
character 23 100
Price
10 0,38
Total
2635 100%

Products purchased and rural provenance
food representations by region
Agrarian
Regions
NUTSII
Products purchased
Rural Provenance food
Representations
Entre Douro e
Minho
North
Sweets
Organic
Trás
-os-Montes
North
Wine and other beverages
Vegetables, fruits, herbs and derivatives
Cured meat and other animal
-based
products
Bread and cereal products
Olive oil
Quality
Sensorial/organoleptic features
Freshness
Distinction/authenticity
Handmade
Traditional, Experience,
Know how
Organic
Beira Interior
(Serra da Estrela
and Seia)
Centre
Cheese and other milk derivatives
Crafts and similar products
Honey, Jams and Preserves
Hand
-made
Trustworthy
Nature/Environment Sustainability
Ribatejo
Centre
Vegetables / cosmetics
Farmers and farming
Alentejo
South
Olive Oil
National character
Distinction/authenticity
Azores
Azores
Meat
Sensorial/organoleptic features

Consumers’preferences
Criteria of purchase
Mean SD
If
they taste better 4,34 0,87
That they are produced in Portugal
4,25 0,88
Having
a fair price 4,19 0,93
If they are fresh produce
4,18 0,96
That
they are local 4,12 0,93
To support Portuguese agriculture and rural areas
4,11 0,99
If
they look good 4,09 0,94
To trust in the store and in its specialized customer service
4,02 0,99
To be produced in Portuguese rural areas
3,96 1,05
If their production carries a low environmental impact
3,95 1,08
That they are healthier
3,92 1,04
If they are small
-scale produced 3,83 1,08
Their nutritional
information 3,79 1,13
If they have been recommended by friends and/or family
3,78 1,05
The fact that I can buy the products in my residency area
3,64 1,26
To know the products already
3,64 1,08
To know the products’ brands
3,50 1,11
If they are officially certified (PDO, IGP, Organic…)
3,50 1,19
To
know the producers 3,47 1,13
Being advertised on mass media/ social media
3,18 1,36

Conclusions
➢Wine, cheese, olive oil and sausages are the most frequently
purchased products –products more frequently related to
Portugal
➢Representations of these products often allude to:
➢Their special character and quality
➢Their sensorial and differentiation symbolic features
➢Their sustainable, environmentally-friendly and artisanal character
➢The cultural traditions related both to know-how and ways of
production and preparation
➢The products’ embeddedness in particular territories
➢and are coherent with the motivations and criteria guiding
consumers’ choices to purchase rural provenance products.

Conclusions
➢The provenance regions are often identified with more
authentic, traditional, tasty, hand-made, sustainable and
‘good’ food products.
➢Rural provenance foodstuffs are perceived in a very
positive light, apparently addressing contemporary
concerns related to health, security, environment and
preservation of culture and heritage

Thank You!
Muito Obrigada!
https://www.stringsproject.pt/
STRINGS - Selling The Rural IN (urban) Gourmet Stores –establishing new liaisons between
town and country through the sale and consumption of rural products (PTDC/GES-
OUT/29281/2017/ POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029281)