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A Taste of Portugal - Foreigner consumers and rural provenance food products

Authors:

Abstract

This paper intends to analyze foreign consumers representations and behaviors regarding Portuguese rural provenance food products. Based on data collected through a questionnaire applied to the customers of food stores located in Aveiro, Lisbon and Porto (N=1553), the paper focuses on the foreign customers (N=373) from 29 countries, especially Brazil, France, Angola, Spain and Germany. Quality, taste, appearance, freshness and the Portuguese origin stand out as common attributes of foreigner consumers’ representations.
A Taste of Portugal
Foreigner consumers and rural provenance food
products
Elisabete Figueiredo, DCSPT UA elisa@ua.pt
Teresa Forte, DCSPT UA, teresaforte@ua.pt
Celeste Eusébio UA celeste.eusebio@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)
Background
The recent increasing interest and consumption
of rural provenance food products.
The growing number, especially in the last
decade, of specialty shops selling these
products within urban centers, appealing to
both residents and tourists, and contributing to
foster agriculture and rural areas’ attractiveness
and development (Silva et al., 2021).
Background
Provenance food is difficult to define univocally
(Eriksen, 2013) but it involves the notions of local,
regional, traditional and authentic food, alluding to
the territories of origin (Meah and Watson, 2013).
Even though local food has become part of the
tourism experience and of the destination choice
(Niedbala et al, 2020), what drives foreign
preferences for local food has been relatively
underexplored (Madaleno et al., 2018), similar to
their representations on different national foods.
Aims
This paper contributes to the topic,
by exploring how foreign consumers
represent and value Portuguese rural
provenance food products
while identifying the determinants for these
food choices.
Methods
A survey conducted between
June 2020 and June 2021
targeting the customers of 24
specialty food shops located in
three Portuguese cities
(N=1553) Aveiro, Lisbon and
Porto.
These shops were randomly
selected based on a
hierarchical cluster analysis of
a universe of 119 shops
located the 3 cities.
Methods
Three clusters of shops:
The Wine Focused (selling wine and other beverages);
The Rural Provenance Focused (selling rural provenance foods)
and
The Generalist (including diverse products from various
provenances) (Silva et al., 2021)
This paper focuses only on the foreign customers
(N=373) of those shops. In the data collection and
analysis, only Portuguese food products were
considered.
Methods
The questionnaire was prepared both in Portuguese and in English and
is divided in two parts:
1. Consumption of traditional rural national-based products (e.g. products
acquired, frequency, region of origin, reasons to acquire them)
2. Consumers sociodemographic profile.
The majority of foreigner respondents were inquired at the shop, with
only a few (n=13) replying online.
Foreigner respondents were inquired in 21 out of the 24 shops:
4 in Aveiro,
7 in Lisbon and
9 in Porto.
Respondents’ profile
More women
Mainly between 31 and 40
and 61-70 years old
With and university degree
(Graduation; Masters)
Mainly married/ cohabiting
Mainly with an income
above 3001€
Gender
%
Male
45,8
Female
54,2
Age
up to 20
1,9
21
-30
17,4
31
-40
23,9
41
-50
19
51
-60
12,6
61
-70
20,9
>71
4,3
Education
Primary
3,8
2º CEB
4,9
3º CEB
8,1
Secondary
17,4
Graduate
31,1
Masters
24,1
PhD
10,5
Marital Status
Single
33
Married/Cohabiting
61,1
Divorced
3,2
Widowed
2,4
Monthly income of the Household
<600 €
12,2
601
-1000 €
18,6
1001
-1400 €
9,7
1401
-1800 €
9,7
1801
-2200 €
5,5
2201
-2600 €
3,4
2601
-3000 €
2,1
>3001 €
38,8
Respondents’ nationality
While Brazilian and Angolan’s monthly income range
from 600 to 1800 €, French and Germans’ revenue is
more than 3001€.
Brazilian and Spanish consumers include more
youngsters, up to 30 years old, whereas German and
French consumers are older.
Overall, regardless of their nationality, respondents tend
to be experts of intellectual and scientific activities and
workers in personal services and commerce.
Respondents’ profile
67,6% of respondents purchase Portuguese rural provenance
foods, mostly sporadically (56,6%) especially on shops from The
Rural Provenance Focused (58,4%) and The Generalist (37,5%)
shops.
This may be due to the type of products bought:
Wine (27,2%)
Cheese (20,4%)
Sausages (7%)
olive oil (5,23)
Vegetables (4,7%)
Bread (3,6)
Honey (3,1%)
That correspond to the traditional products generally associated
with Portugal
Products purchased
Regions of Provenance
of the Products purchased
NUTSII- NORTH- 48,85
Trás-os-Montes (35,7%) includes Douro Wine Region
NUTSII-CENTRE- 35,4%
Beira Interior (27,2%) Including Serra da Estrela cheese Region
NUTSII- ALENTEJO- 6,8%
Alentejo (6,8%)
NUTSII ALGARVE (0%) and MADEIRA (0%)
NUTSII-LISBOA- 4,9%
Ribatejo and Oeste (4,9%)
AZORES (3,9%)
Words used to describe the products
Categories of words used to describe the
products
Categories of Evocations of Rural Provenance Food
N
%within category
Products
263
39,37
Meat and animal-based products
94
35,74
Cheese and other milk derivatives
63
23,95
Vegetables, Cereals and Fruits
46
17,49
Wine
40
15,21
20
7,60
241
36,08
Sensorial/organoletic features of products
82
34,02
Distinction and Authenticity
37
15,35
Nature/Enviroment/Sustainability
40
16,60
Family/Nostalgia
17
7,05
Chemically free/ UnHealthy
18
7,47
Freshness
16
6,64
Selection/Monotony
11
4,56
Regional, local, from specific places
12
4,98
Trustworthy
8
3,32
Positive attributes
84
12,57
General quality
84
1,00
Type of production
70
10,48
Hand-made, Traditional, Experience and Know-how
45
64,29
Farmers and Farming
16
22,86
Organic
9
12,86
Gastronomy and Cuisine
6
0,90
Origin
3
0,45
National character
3
Price
1
0,15
Total
668
Determinants
Mean
Std.
Deviati
on
If they taste better 4,2 0,892
If they look good 4,1 0,939
If they are fresh produce 4,1 0,938
That they are produced in Portugal 4,09 0,93
Having a fair price 4,09 0,895
That they are local 4,08 0,906
To support Portuguese agriculture and rural areas 4,02 0,981
If their production carries a low environmental impact 3,92 1,068
To trust in the store and in its specialized costumer service 3,85 1,024
If they have been recommended by friends and/or family 3,84 1,02
That they are healthier 3,81 1,067
To be produced in Portuguese rural areas 3,8 1,06
If they are small-scale produced 3,74 1,053
Their nutritional information 3,72 1,141
If they are officially certified (PDO, IGP, Organic…) 3,53 1,139
To know the products already 3,46 1,083
The fact that I can buy the products in my residency area 3,46 1,23
To know the products’ brands 3,36 1,091
To know the producers 3,35 1,161
Being advertised on mass media/ social media 3,21 1,363
Determinants for
selecting
Portuguese rural
provenance
products
The interest on rural
provenance foods may also
be inferred from the fact
that amongst those
declaring to have visited a
Portuguese rural area in the
last 3 years (53,9%, mainly
German, French,
Mozambican and Brazilian),
87,1% enrolled in
gastronomy and wine
tasting activities and 69,2%
bought foodstuffs locally
produced.
Visit to Portuguese rural areas
These results are strengthened by the fact that 34,7% of the respondents
have already visited Portuguese rural areas just to buy or to taste food and
beverages locally produced, mainly in regions such as Trás-os-Montes
(North), Alentejo (South) and Beira Interior (Center), especially well-known
for wine, sausages, olive oil and cheese.
Visit to Portuguese rural areas
73.9% of the respondents that visited a Portuguese rural
area to buy or to taste foodstuffs, have tried to buy
those products in their residency area, 62.6% finding it
not especially difficult to do so.
This speaks favourably about
the increasing dissemination of this type of products, which
may be due to the own specialty food shops that made them
available in urban settings of different cultural contexts or, in
the case of residents, in Portugal.
The role of these products (and shops selling them) in promoting
rural areas attractiveness.
Visit to Portuguese rural areas
All in all, the empirical evidence suggests that foreign consumers,
although with some minor differences according to their diverse
nationalities, especially value traditional Portuguese products and their
quality, taste, appearance, freshness and provenance stand out both
as representations and food choice determinants.
The specialty food shops have a paramount role in fostering the
interest of consumers (tourists and residents) for the Portuguese rural
provenance products
They are touristic attractions within urban centers the rural in the city
through the food products
They are the showcases of the food products with direct connection with
rural territories and therefore they act as a vehicle for promoting
Portuguese rural areas at both national and international level
The international customers may recommend the products to friends and
family and this can induce the interest and will to visit Portugal and the
rural territories of those products’ provenance.
Concluding Remarks
Small sample, without information on the type of foreigner
surveyed (e.g. tourist, long-term resident or short-term resident);
Focus on foreigner consumers;
The empirical evidence and analysis presented here might be
applied to other Southern European Countries (e.g. Italy, Spain,
Greece), which share many similarities with Portugal in terms of
diet, agriculture and rural areas transformations and consumption
practices;
All things considered, the valorisation of rural provenance food
products, especially through its selling by urban specialty stores,
may play an important role in attracting tourists to a country and a
region and in fostering agriculture and rural development.
Limitations and further research
opportunities
Some References
Eriksen, S. (2013). Defining local food: constructing a new taxonomy- three domains of
proximity. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B- Soil & Plant Science, 63: 47-55.
Figueiredo, E. (2021). Rural Provenance Food as Cultural Heritage - a way of
promoting rural attractiveness and development? In Handbook of Research on
Cultural Heritage and Its Impact on Territory Innovation and Development, edited by
L. Oliveira, A. C. Amaro and A. Melro, 114-137, Hershey: IGI Global.
Madaleno, A; Eusébio, C. and Varum, C. (2018). Purchase of local food products
during trips by international visitors. International Journal of Tourism Research, 20 (1):
115-125.
Meah, A. and Watson, M. (2013). Cooking up consumer anxieties about
‘provenance’ and ‘ethics’. Food, Culture & Society, 16 (3): 495-512.
Niedbała, G.; Jęczmyk, A.; Steppa, R and Uglis, J. (2020). Linking of Traditional Food
and Tourism. The Best Pork of Wielkopolska Culinary Tourist Trail: A Case Study
Sustainability 12 (13): 5344.
Silva, A.; Figueiredo, E.; Truninger, M.; Eusébio, C. and Forte, T. (2021). A typology of
urban specialty shops selling rural provenance food products a contribution from
Portugal. British Food Journal. Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print.
https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-11-2020-1045
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)
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Article
Full-text available
Agriculture, food and tourism is combined into offering tourist products in rural areas. The development of local activities combining traditional food and tourism becomes an investment for the future with both the concept of sustainable gastronomy and agriculture sustainability, and helps in the development of local entrepreneurship in rural areas. The European Union has introduced provisions for the protection of traditional and regional food that can be used to create a variety of tourist products. Currently, tourists are looking for unique local products. More and more people travel because of culinary motifs, and local products, dishes and local processors can become an attraction in these places. This paper presents the idea of ‘The Best Pork of Wielkopolska’ culinary trail, which is based on a local product from Wielkopolska, in Poland—the native breed of pig—the Złotnicka White pig. The rapid development of culinary tourism means that tourists are looking for offers in this area. There are many cooking-related products available in the tourism market, one of which is the culinary trail. Food becomes one of the advantages of places where tourism related to the culture of the region develops. Based on cultural heritage, a variety of tourist products can be created, e.g., culinary trails combining agriculture and food produced in this area with tourism.
Article
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore and typify the characteristics and diverse features of urban speciality stores selling rural provenance food, taking the case of three cities in Portugal. Design/methodology/approach The study was based on hierarchical cluster analysis, performed upon data collected from a survey to 113 shops, located in Aveiro ( n = 15), Lisbon ( n = 56) and Porto ( n = 42). Findings The study identified three clusters of shops according to the type of rural provenance products sold, services provided and clientele characteristics: the wine focused, the rural provenance focused and the generalist. The study confirms that in Portugal, small food retail outlets, with different rural provenance patterns and degrees of specialization have considerably grown in large cities over the last decade. Research limitations/implications The study contributes to typifying urban speciality food stores selling rural provenance products and to addressing critical research gaps on this topic. The study highlights the dynamism of small food retail outlets and their significance, mediating and responding to changing patterns of food consumption in urban spaces. Originality/value This study contributes to a better understanding and characterization of food speciality shops in urban settings and their links with rural territories of provenance, an under-researched topic on the food retail literature.
Chapter
The aim of this chapter is to reflect on rural provenance food as cultural heritage, discussing at the same time its contribution to promoting rural development and renewed rural-urban connections in Portugal. This chapter takes a selection of urban retailers (the so-called gourmet or specialized stores) located in Lisbon, Portugal, as the starting point of the discussion. In fact, in commercializing rural food products—generally perceived as higher quality and presenting unique characteristics—urban retailers are selling a piece of the countryside, a piece of specific terroirs, a piece of cultural identity, and a particular vision of the world and savoir-faire. Based on the content analysis of the stores' promotional materials, it is possible to conclude that a growing gourmetization and heritagization in the commercialization of rural provenance food products is taking place in urban contexts. The promotion of foodstuffs held by the stores also relies on the claim that provenance matters, whether that provenance is portrayed as local, regional, or national.
Article
Provenance is fundamentally about foods' point of origin. It is thus, unsurprising that studies of food provenance typically focus on circumstances of production and the routes foods follow to get to situations of exchange and, to a lesser extent, final consumption. However; this dominant framing leads to an asymmetry of attention between production and consumption. By neglecting the situatedness of food purchase and use, much of what makes provenance meaningful and productive for consumers is missed. This paper draws upon qualitative and ethnographic data to explore why and how it sometimes matters where food comes from. What emerges is an expanded and problematized practical understanding of provenance, where concerns for the point of origin is generally inseparable from, and subsumed within, a broader range of ethical concerns about where food comes from.