Digital traces of taste: methodological pathways for consumer research

ABSTRACT

With the increasing digitalization and datafication of consumption brought by platforms such as Amazon, Netflix and Spotify, digital traces of taste are constantly generated as by-products of consumers' everyday communications and activities. However, these data have not been fully exploited in the cross-disciplinary study of taste phenomena. This paper represents a first attempt to develop a comprehensive methodological framework for “augmenting” taste research through the analysis of digital traces. The proposed framework is theory-driven, multi-method, context-sensitive, and reflexive about platforms' affordances. Three distinct methodological pathways are examined, contributing to research on taste cultures, regimes and experiences. Empirical data about Italian hip-hop culture on YouTube are employed for illustrative purposes. Key methodological and theoretical implications for consumer research are discussed.     

微烹饪原理及其运用研究

本文创新性地提出了微烹饪原理及其特征,分析了微烹饪提出的背景,包括居民膳食营养不合理、食品安全问题频繁出现、绿色环保理念广泛普及等,同时结合传统烹饪中存在的各种健康危害隐患,分别从市场和技术两个层面提出了微烹饪的实施路径。     

Looking good or feeling good? The dual role of the body in the taste transformation process

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the process of taste transformation in body-centered consumption fields and the role of the body in this process. Although previous studies have investigated taste acquisition, the body is still commonly understood only as the enactor of the practices in this process. By analyzing the context of healthy living, this study identifies the body as a lived-in trigger of taste transformation and the main place where change unfolds. It demonstrates how, after taste transformation, the body becomes a lived-in enactor of practices that display mastery of the tenets of a taste regime but is still captured in normative systems that animate the desire for change. The findings reveal that the body is both situated in normative beauty systems and an embodied enactor of practices and that by unveiling its dual role, it allows individuals to navigate distinction-over and distinction-between.     

Background music tempo effects on food evaluations and purchase intentions

This article is a report of results of three studies investigating effects of fast versus slow background musical tempo on physiology, cognition, and emotions. Two pilot studies first measure consumer perceptions of tempo. In Studies 1 and 2, participants view a short video restaurant advertisement featuring fast or slow background music along with illustrations of food items. Results indicate that fast music is more effective than slow music for evoking positive taste expectations and purchase intentions. Study 3 shows that the effects observed in Studies 1 and 2 occur because fast music enhances self-reported arousal levels that then lead to enhanced moods, taste expectations, and purchase intentions. Theoretical implications regarding effects of music on emotional responses are discussed, as are practical managerial implications for using fast music as a persuasive technique.     

论中药复方专利的侵权认定

对中药复方专利的侵权如何进行认定,一直是司法实践的难题和人们争论的焦点,存在着比例说,有效部分说等等不同观点。新中药复方在现有的中药复方专利基础上进行的药量加减、药味的部分替换或全部替换,如果能在显著提高疗效、减少毒副作用、作用新的部位、适应新的病症、作用同一病症的不同类型等任何一方面有所突破,就应当认定该复方对中药领域的普通技术人员来说具有非显而易见性,有突出的实质性特点和显著的进步,具有创造性,不构成对现有中药复方专利的侵权,反之,则应该认为存在侵权行为。     

Core Organic Taste: Preferences for Naturalness-Related Sensory Attributes of Organic Food Among European Consumers

Consumers’ preferences for organic food have evolved in recent years, moving from altruistic values to more egoistic buying motivations, such as health promoting or nutritional aspects and sensory properties. Hypothesizing that organic consumers have peculiar preferences for naturalness-related sensory attributes, we developed the concept of the “core organic taste” based on the principles of a wholesome nutrition. This article investigates to what extent the “core organic taste” is relevant across different European countries and its potential relevance for food marketing. A sample of 1,798 organic food consumers was interviewed during 2010–2011 in six European countries. Explorative factor analysis, correlation analysis, ANOVA, and post hoc tests were applied to analyze the data. Results show that the “core organic taste” is not applicable for all countries. Indeed, for most countries only single elements seem to be relevant. However, for Germany and Switzerland the “core organic taste”—representing the first “taste style”—has proven its potential value and points at the need for more research in this field. Depending on the country, product developers and marketers could potentially use different elements of the “core organic taste” to better meet organic consumers’ wishes and expectations. Finally, recommendations and suggestions for practitioners and academia are provided.     

从废镍铂合金靶材中回收铂镍的研究

针对镍铂二次资源回收工艺中的原料成分,探讨了镍铂合金靶材废料的湿法冶金分离回收技术,以及合金废料的氧化浸出处理及离子交换镍铂分离回收技术。通过单因素实验,确定了最佳工艺条件及工艺流程,实现了镍、铂的有效分离,分离提纯后得到符合国标质量要求的海绵铂和镍化合物晶体产品,铂回收率达99%,镍回收率97%。     

Economic Growth,Globalisation and Beer Consumption

We analyse the evolution of beer consumption between countries and over time. Historically, there have been major changes in beer consumption in the world. In recent times, per capita consumption has decreased in traditional beer drinking countries while it increased strongly in emerging economies. Recently, China has overtaken the US as the largest beer economy. A quantitative empirical analysis studies the relationships among economic growth, globalisation and beer consumption. The relationship between income and beer consumption has an inverse U‐shape. Beer consumption initially increases with rising incomes; but at higher levels of income beer consumption falls. Increased globalisation has contributed to a convergence in alcohol consumption patterns across countries. In countries that were originally beer drinking countries, the share of beer in total alcohol consumption reduced, while this is not the case in countries which traditionally drank mostly wine or spirits.     

Emerging Cultural Capital in the City: Profiling London and Brussels

This essay examines how the contemporary city is being redefined as a fundamental crucible in which new and emerging modes of cultural capital are being forged. Drawing inspiration from the links Bourdieu draws between physical and social space, we use comprehensive quantitative surveys from Belgium and the UK to explore the accelerating interplay between large urban centres and the generation of ‘cosmopolitan cultural capital’. We show a close association between urban sites and the location of residents with new kinds of emerging cultural capital. This appreciation allows us to understand the increasing prominence of large metropolitan centres, which stand in growing tension with their suburban and rural hinterlands. This process is simultaneously cultural, economic, social and political and marks a remaking of the nature of cultural hierarchy and cultural capital itself, away from the older model of the Kantian aesthetic, as elaborated by Bourdieu in Distinction, which venerates a ‘highbrow’ aesthetic removed from everyday life, towards ‘emerging’ forms of cultural capital that valorize activity, engagement and intense forms of contemporary cultural activity.