Abstract
Recently, local foods have drawn significant attention due to their intrinsic merits. Such foods not only have commercial potential, but also cultural value. Therefore, local foods must be well-maintained and fostered, and a comprehensive plan to develop them must be devised. In this aspect, various factors such as dietary attitudes, perceptions and concerns affecting their development should be considered. The present study was designed to investigate via survey the dietary attitudes, perceptions and concerns towards local foods among married women in Jeollabuk-do. The number of subjects was 434. According to the results, the highest frequency for consuming local foods was '1~3 times/month' for all ages. For the number of local foods subjects had ever tried, '7~8' was the highest overall with 36.8%, followed by '5~6', '3~4', '9~10', and '0~2' with 27.4%, 17.9%, 10.3% and 7.6%, respectively. However, there was a statistically significant difference according to age. The higher the person’s age, the higher the number of local foods they had tried. A similar pattern was shown in the number of local foods subjects had ever cooked. For those in their 20s and 30s, the highest number was '0~2', with 70.8% and 53.0%, respectively, while for those in their 40s the highest number was '3~4' with 38.5%, and for those above 50s it was '5~6' with 31.4%. Most of the subjects realized the need to advance the development of local foods. There were differences among the subjects for certain aspects concerning progression and development, opinions on the major drawbacks of local food development items served more often at home, and different views by age on taste modifications according to modern concepts. From this study, it can be concluded that the utilization of local foods increases with age, and the view that local food development should be based on the recovery and/or maintenance of original tastes becomes more prevalent with age.