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The steady increase in the number of wage earners in Turkey during the last 20 years has brought social expansion of middle-class and working-class groups to the agenda. In the relevant period, forms of labor market stratification became more visible. Widespread flexibility practices, such as subcontracting, have diminished secure employment. The emergence of new types of employment, especially the expansion of employment in the service sector, has also significantly affected social structure transformations. Studies that addressed developments in social transformation from class-cultural perspective have focused more on middle-class groups. This study examines Turkish working-class culture from a class-cultural perspective. Adopting a neo-Bourdieusian class approach, this study analyses the transformations in lifestyles, tastes and voting behaviors of the working class in three different regions of Bursa. The study claims that different social and material conditions of existence spatially differentiate working-class culture. The results of the survey research conducted in Bursa in 2022 were analyzed by multiple correspondence (MCA) analysis. The results of this research show that independent variables such as workers’ social background, education level, material earnings and differences in property relations construct spatial and cultural differentiation.

In this essay I review Helmut Staubmann's book Sociology in a New Key, which seeks to reorient sociological work through a new attention to and appreciation of the aesthetic realm which has been generally neglected in the tradition of positivistic and quantitative (that is, materialist) sociology. I suggest that many of the topics covered in the book have the potential to reorient thinking about the traditional ways theory, methods, and data are taught, learned, and applied in the field. Since the author's goal is the transposition of a new key for sociological work, the realm of art that is the focus of this effort and my discussion is music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The soy protein isolate cheese sticks were developed in order to enrich the cheese stick products, and the tastes were compared with that of homemade traditional cheese sticks. Single factor experiments and Box - Behnken four-factor and three-level experiment design were used to explore the effects of skimmed milk powder and soy protein isolate additions, skimmed milk powder to soy protein isolate mass ratios, complex emulsifying salt additions and compound stabilizer additions on the qualities and tastes of soy protein isolate cheese sticks. The formulation of soy protein isolate cheese sticks was optimized, and its taste was analyzed. The results showed that the optimal formula of soy protein isolate cheese sticks was determined as follow: on the basis of 100 g water, total addition of skimmed milk powder and soy protein isolate of 16.0%, compound emulsified salt addition of 2.0%, compound stabilizer addition of 3.0%, and skimmed milk powder to soy protein isolate mass ratio of 3:1. Compared with the traditional cheese sticks, soy protein isolate cheese sticks presented higher protein content, lower carbohydrate content with richer tastes. According to the optimal formula, the prepared soy protein isolate cheese sticks exhibited uniform structure, good color, moderate softness and hardness with rich milk and bean flavors, which provided technical supports for the marketization of the products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers' purchasing decision is the impulse to acquire goods or services; this impulse, in most cases, merits study from the psychological and sociological field in a market based on value for the client where consumers seek to satisfy their needs, tastes, or preferences. Merchandising is a marketing tool that allows a correlation between the product and the consumer, where it serves to strengthen the point of sale and, as a primary objective, stimulate purchases. The purpose of this research is to analyze the level of incidence in the purchasing decision about the merchandising used by supermarkets in the canton of Cuenca - Ecuador. In this research, information was collected through digital databases and websites with neuromarketing applications. In the same way, an instrument was created, which in this case was a survey carried out among consumers, to obtain information to meet the stated objective and verify the research hypothesis, determining a statistical model that ratifies or rejects the hypotheses. The results reflect a coefficient of determination R = 0.86 and R 2 = 0.734, implying that there is a good correlation of the dependent variable with the independent variables. The impact on consumers' purchasing decisions has been perceived through the application of merchandising strategies, thereby encouraging them to purchase their products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diet of individuals is influenced by social and cultural factors. Children's food tastes and representations, being principally transmitted by their parents, are likely to depend on their social backgrounds. As it is known that parents' feeding strategies and food education differ depending on their social positions, this study aimed at examining how food representations and tastes vary among children. A qualitative sociological study, using semi-structured interviews, was conducted with 40 children, aged from 9 to 11 years, from four French elementary schools. Results showed that children from disadvantaged social backgrounds mentioned less foods, seemed to have a less varied diet, to consume less vegetables, and to enjoy eating ultra-processed foods more than other children. Different food habitus were found, that can be put into perspective using Bourdieu's distinction theory, including different preoccupations regarding health and necessity among social groups. Disparities in children's food habitus could be theoretically linked with observed and growing social inequalities in health, when taking into consideration the potential practises that these habitus imply, and their probable effects on health. Participatory food education classes at school could aim to reduce such disparities, although some concerns and limits must be acknowledged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Culturally oriented consumer research has predominantly been framed by two ideal types of reflexivity, which we characterize as existential and critical reflexivity. Drawing from our research on divorced women who have been displaced from their domestically oriented, middle-class lifestyles, we develop an alternative conceptualization—reactive reflexivity—that highlights a different relationship among consumer agency, social structures, and identity goals and practices. Rather than embracing their post-divorce lifestyles as a revitalizing challenge (per existential reflexivity) or liberation from a constraining gender role (per critical reflexivity), our participants felt estranged from their current lifestyle and reflexively viewed their pre-divorce lifestyle as a structure of relative empowerment that had afforded emotional, aesthetic, and status-oriented benefits. In reflexive response to these perceived lifestyle discontinuities, they engaged in discordant practices of taste that sought to insulate their aesthetic predispositions from structurally imposed socioeconomic constraints and, ultimately, to accomplish a reactive identity goal of regaining their displaced status as middle-class homemakers. We discuss the implications of our analysis for theorizations of consumer taste and the relationships between gender ideologies and reflexive consumption practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural taste and practices are ordinarily analysed through pre-established lists of generic categories that are provided to participants in quantitative surveys. The French inquiry on cultural practices conducted in 2018 offers the possibility to examine categories given by participants to an open question about the “type of music” liked by French people. The aim of this article is both methodological and analytical: First, this article operates a double categorisation, typological and generic, and second, it provides a reflection on the categories of music tastes. Although genre appears as the dominant category to express one’s taste, other categories, referring to “traditions”, “artists”, “use value”, as well as the absence of preferences are also observed. The article discusses what a declared preference for music via an open-ended question consists of, and how it differs from an expressed response about taste in a closed question.

Employment discrimination may impede disadvantaged groups' career advancement or, even worse, may hinder the groups' access to desirable jobs. Moreover, discriminatory employment practices result in a huge loss of revenue to prejudiced firms. Due to the disastrous impacts of employment discrimination on the economic climate, we seek to measure taste-based employment discrimination between women and men in the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Hungary, Peru, UK, and Uruguay. To fulfill the aim, we estimate two regression models for the female and male workforce and then analyze differences between the coefficients of the explanatory variables in the models to examine the existence of taste-based employment discrimination caused by the tastes of customers and co-workers, and employers. Results indicate that the long-run taste-based employment discrimination between women and men has existed in the countries. In addition to taste-based discrimination, if employers select their workforce on the basis of productivity, the results demonstrate that statistical discrimination can occur in the countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relay culture of large yellow croaker from Fujian to Zhejiang is a good model for improved fish quality. However, there is a scarcity of information regarding the comprehensive evaluation of quality alterations following relay culture. In the present study, the large yellow croaker from Ningde (ND) was transferred to net cages in Dongtou (DT), Nanji (NJ), Dongji (DJ) and Dacheng (DC) for continued culture. The 15-month-old fish from ND, DJ, DC, DT, and NJ were sampled on-site for a subsequent comparative study on the morphological characteristics, nutritional quality, and tastes. Results showed that the fish from DJ, DC, DT, and NJ had a lower condition factor (CF) and a higher ratio of body length to height (L/H) than those from ND. The fish from DJ, DC, DT, and NJ, at rates of 77.8%, 91.3%, 95.7%, and 100%, exhibited different geometric morphometrics from those from ND using 10 typical landmarks and Morpho J software. Ralay culture also significantly affected the histology and ultrastructure of muscle fibers, as reflected by an increase in the muscle fiber density and decreases in the ratio of fiber area to gap, I band width, and sarcomere length in the relay culture fish compared to the ND fish. The relay culture fish showed low lipid content and high moisture content. Relay culture also significantly affected the levels of some nutritional composition, including deceases in the levels of hydrolyzed glycine, C16:0, C18:1n9c, C18:2n6c, Σn-6 PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acids), Fe (iron), Mn (manganese), and Co (cobalt), and increases in the levels of C20:5n3 (EPA, eicosapentaenoic acid), C22:6n3 (DHA, docosahexaenoic acid), C18:0, Σn-3/Σn-6 PUFA, Σn-3 PUFA, Al (aluminum), Se (selenium), Na (sodium), and Ca (calcium). The levels of taste substances such as guanosine monophosphate (GMP) and most flavor amino acids sharply declined after relay culture. However, the ratio of taste activity value (TAV) of ΣDAA to ΣBAA (delicious amino acids/bitter amino acids) in the DT and NJ fish was higher than that in the ND fish. Significant negative relationships between market price and quality parameters were found, including CF, crude lipid, C18:1n9c, C18:2n6c, Σn-6 PUFA, Fe, Mn, and TAV of GMP, whereas there were positive relationships between market price and 4 quality parameters such as L/H, moisture, Σn-3/Σn-6 PUFA, and the ratio of TAC of ΣDAA to ΣBAA. In conclusion, relay culture improved large yellow croaker quality by changes in morphological characteristics, nutritional quality, and tastes, which provides a theoretical basis for quality improvement. • Relay culture improved body shape, nutritional quality, and tastes of fish. • Significant relationships between the market price and quality indicators were observed. • Novel quality enhancement strategies are suggested during relay culture. • Relay culture is a promising model for enhancing the quality of large yellow croaker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Affect Theory of Social Exchange (ATSE) research program has produced cumulative insights on how instrumental exchanges lead to the development of affectual attachments. With its focus on task responsibilities, ATSE leaves space to interrogate how factors not related to task execution are at play in the production of interpersonal bonds. In this paper, we integrate insights from social psychology, cultural sociology and organizational research to develop a theoretical framework suggesting (a) why and how cultural tastes contribute to social cohesion and (b) the conditions under which cultural tastes remain a source of strategic advantage or, worse, symbolic exclusion. Our theory rests on the basic proposition that shared cultural tastes increase the likelihood of experiencing positive emotions, which in turn are key in the development and maintenance of affectual attachments. Variations to this proposition are subsequently introduced, considering culture in declarative and nondeclarative forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this work is the creation of a chemical database named ChemTastesDB that includes both organic and inorganic tastants. The creation, curation pipeline and the main features of the database are described in detail. The database includes 2944 verified and curated compounds divided into nine classes, which comprise the five basic tastes (sweet, bitter, umami sour and salty) along with four additional categories: tasteless, non-sweet, multitaste and miscellaneous. ChemTastesDB provides the following information for each tastant: name, PubChem CID, CAS registry number, canonical SMILES, class taste and references to the scientific sources from which data were retrieved. The molecular structure in the HyperChem (.hin) format of each chemical is also made available. In addition, molecular fingerprints were used for characterizing and analyzing the chemical space of tastants by means of unsupervised machine learning. ChemTastesDB constitutes a useful tool to the scientific community to expand the information of taste molecules and to assist in silico studies for the taste prediction of unevaluated and as yet unsynthetized compounds, as well as the analysis of the relationships between molecular structure and taste. The database is freely accessible at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5747393.

• Curvature and symmetry are associated with sweetness using taste words and tastants. • People vary substantially in their sensitivity to taste-shape correspondences. • Liking of tastes and shapes influences the association between these sensory stimuli. People generally associate curved and symmetrical shapes with sweetness, while associating angular and asymmetrical shapes with the other basic tastes (e.g., sour, bitter). However, these group-level taste-shape correspondences likely conceal important variation at an individual-level. We examined the extent to which individuals vary in their sensitivity to crossmodal correspondence between curvature and symmetry, on the one hand, and the five basic taste qualities (sweet, bitter, salty, sour, and umami), on the other. In Experiment 1, participants matched shapes (curved vs. angular, symmetrical vs. asymmetrical) and taste words. In Experiment 2, participants performed a similar task, though this time using actual tastants. Given that people differ in their hedonic experience of such shapes and tastes, we also measured participants' liking for each taste and shape separately. The results replicate the general crossmodal correspondences between curved-sweet and symmetrical-sweet stimuli. Furthermore, participants tended to match sour and bitter tastes with angular and asymmetrical stimuli. However, these group-level taste-shape correspondences coexist alongside substantial variation at the level of the individual. While some participants consistently matched specific tastes with curved and symmetrical stimuli, others consistently matched these tastes with angular and asymmetrical stimuli, or else did not show these taste-shape correspondences. Liking for curved and symmetrical stimuli was higher than for angular and asymmetrical stimuli. However, participants also differed considerably in the extent to which these visual features affected their liking. Overall, our findings highlight the substantial individual differences that are associated with the degree to which people associate and like shapes and tastes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors are in the midst of a research project on young people’s cultural cosmopolitanism. One theme they have examined in their research, music-listening habits, draws on a corpus of interviews with approximately 50 young people between the ages of 16 and 29. After describing their listening practices, preferences and tastes, and the genres they reject or accept, the authors consider how best to describe the diversity of young people’s musical interests and the omnipresence of music in their daily lives.

This study, which was conducted as part of the Italian Taste project, was aimed at exploring the relationship between actual liking and sensory perception in four food models. Each food model was spiked with four levels of prototypical tastant (i.e., citric acid, sucrose, sodium chloride, capsaicin) to elicit a target sensation (TS) at an increasing perceived intensity. Participants (N = 2258; 59% women, aged 18–60) provided demographic information, a stated liking for 40 different foods/beverages, and their responsiveness to tastants in water. A food-specific Pearson’s coefficient was calculated individually to estimate the relationship between actual liking and TS responsiveness. Considering the relationship magnitude, consumers were grouped into four food-specific clusters, depending on whether they showed a strong negative (SNC), a weak negative (WNC), a weak positive (WPC), or a strong positive correlation (SPC). Overall, the degree of liking raised in parallel with sweetness responsiveness, fell as sourness and pungency perception increased, and showed an inverted U-shape relationship with saltiness. The SNC clusters generally perceived TSs at higher intensities, except for sourness. Clusters were validated by associating the level of stated liking towards food/beverages; however, some unexpected indications emerged: adding sugar to coffee or preferring spicy foods differentiated those presenting positive correlations from those showing negative correlations. Our findings constitute a step towards a more comprehensive understanding of food preferences.

Résumé Introduction. Le goût est une modalité sensorielle chimique qui permet d'apprécier les saveurs d'une substance ingérée. Il joue un rôle essentiel dans la sélection des aliments. Objectif. Déterminer le niveau de sensibilité gustative aux goûts gras, sucré, salé et amer, à travers les préférences alimentaires et étudier le lien possible avec l’état pondéral. Matériel et méthodes. L’étude a porté sur 210 jeunes adultes (F/H, 157/53) âgés de 18 à 30 ans. Les mesures anthropométriques concernent le poids et la taille. Le questionnaire utilisé a permis l'évaluation des préférences alimentaires en relation avec différentes saveurs. Le niveau de sensibilité est estimé à partir des scores moyens de préférence attribués à chaque groupe d’aliments apportant le goût étudié. L’analyse statistique est réalisée avec le logiciel StatView. Résultats. Notre population compte 45,7% de sujets en surpoids dont 20% d’obèses. Le pourcentage du surpoids est plus élevé chez les femmes que chez les hommes (p=0,04). Une relation significative est trouvée entre la préférence au gras rajouté et l’état pondéral des adultes (p=0,0003). Aucune différence significative n’est trouvée entre le niveau de préférence ou de sensibilité pour les aliments sucrés, salés ou amers et l’état pondéral des adultes. Conclusion. Les adultes en surpoids présentent le niveau de préférence le plus faible et sont les moins sensibles par rapport au gras rajouté, ce qui peut influencer l’état pondéral par une consommation excessive d’aliments riches en gras. [ Abstract Introduction. Taste is a chemical sensory modality allowing to appreciate the flavors of an ingested substance. It plays an essential role in food choice. Objective. To define the level of taste sensitivity to fatty, sweet, salty and bitter tastes through food preferences and to study the possible link with weight status. Material and methods. The study focused on 210 young adults (W/M, 157/53) aged from 18 to 30 years. Anthropometric measures were weight and height. The questionnaire allowed the evaluation of food preferences in relation with different flavors. The level of sensitivity was estimated from the mean scores of preference assigned to each group of food providing the studied taste. Statistical analysis was performed with the StatView software. Results. Our population had 45.7% of overweight, 20% of them were obese. The percentage of overweight was higher in women than in men (p=0.04). A significant relationship was found between the preference of added fat and the adult weight status (p=0.0003). No significant difference was found between the preference level or sensitivity for food providing sweet, salty or bitter tastes and the weight status. Conclusion. Overweight adults have the lowest preference level and are the least sensitive to added fat, which can influence body weight through excessive consumption of high fat foods.]

We have seen a rapid growth of interest in cross-modal correspondences between sound and taste over recent years. People consistently associate higher-pitched sounds with sweet/sour foods, while lower-pitched sounds tend to be associated with bitter foods. The human voice is key in broadcast advertising, and the role of voice in communication generally is partly characterized by acoustic parameters of pitch. However, it remains unknown whether voice pitch and taste interactively influence consumer behavior. Since consumers prefer congruent sensory information, it is plausible that voice pitch and taste interactively influence consumers' responses to advertising stimuli. Based on the cross-modal correspondence phenomenon, this study aimed to elucidate the role played by voice pitch–taste correspondences in advertising effectiveness. Participants listened to voiceover advertisements (at a higher or lower pitch than the original narrator's voice) for three food products with distinct tastes (sweet, sour, and bitter) and rated their buying intention (an indicator of advertising effectiveness). The results show that the participants were likely to exhibit greater buying intention toward both sweet and sour food when they listened to higher-pitched (vs lower-pitched) voiceover advertisements. The influence of a higher pitch on sweet and sour food preferences was observed in only two of the three studies: studies 1 and 2 for sour food, and studies 2 and 3 for sweet food. These findings emphasize the role that voice pitch–taste correspondence plays in preference formation, and advance the applicability of cross-modal correspondences to business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Swiss Journal of Sociology / Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Soziologie is the property of Sciendo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article introduces the Themed Section of Media International Australia, ‘Tastes and practices in three Australian cultural fields: television, music and sport’, which presents selected findings of the 2014-2015 survey of Australian cultural practices conducted as part of the Australian Research Council project Australian Cultural Fields: National and Transnational Dynamics (DP140101970). It briefly discusses the social organisation of the production of consumption of Australia in the period between the national cultural policies Creative Nation (1994) and Creative Australia (2013). The Introduction then outlines the methodology underlying the Australian Cultural Fields survey that, in building on the approach of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, was developed to assess how far entrenched cultural hierarchies and inequalities have been displaced by broadened patterns of access to arts and culture. Of particular concern is the role of traditional and new forms of cultural capital in differentiating patterns of cultural consumption and participation across relations of class, gender and ethnicity, which the distinctive survey design and administration seek to capture in the Australian context. Bringing together the methods of Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) and Cluster Analysis, each article highlights specific aspects of the relations between cultural tastes, practices, and social positions in contemporary Australia via an engagement with contemporary debates in cultural capital theory. The contributions on television (by Tony Bennett, Modesto Gayo, and David Rowe), music (Ben Dibley and Modesto Gayo) and sport (Modesto Gayo and David Rowe) address the dynamics of these Australian cultural fields, while also indicating the significance of their research findings for studies of other nationally-constituted cultural fields, as well as the contested play of cultural capital within nations and in the transnational/global sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decision makers can often improve the accuracy of their judgments on factual matters by consulting "crowds" of others for their respective opinions. In this article, we investigate whether decision makers could similarly draw on crowds to improve the accuracy of their judgments about their own tastes and hedonic experiences. We present a theoretical model that states that accuracy gains from consulting a crowd's judgments of taste depend on the interplay among taste discrimination, crowd diversity, and the similarity between the crowd's preferences and those of the decision maker. The model also delineates the boundary conditions for such "crowd wisdom." Evidence supporting our hypotheses was found in two laboratory studies in which decision makers made judgments about their own enjoyment of musical pieces and short films. Our findings suggest that although different people may have different preferences and inclinations, their judgments of taste can benefit from the wisdom of crowds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the consistency of Pierre Bourdieu’s homology thesis by assessing, at a class-fraction level, the statistical significance of the differences in taste and lifestyle reported in Distinction. According to Bourdieu, taste and lifestyle vary not only from one social class to another, but also within social classes themselves, depending on the type of capital (notably, cultural or economic) that prevails among class fractions. In this article, we estimate the cultural distance separating eight fractions of the middle and upper classes by performing bilateral between-proportion comparison tests. Two levels of analysis are considered: the intra-class and the inter-class fraction levels. The first level only involves within-class comparisons. It aims to test the empirical basis of the concept of capital composition. The second level only involves comparisons between middle-class and upper-class fractions. It aims to test Bourdieu’s representation of social space. Results indicate that 1) the composition of capital is associated with taste variability in both the middle and upper classes, and 2) taste similarities and dissimilarities between fractions belonging to different classes are linked to cultural capital. In sum, this study provides additional evidence for the consistency of Bourdieu’s homology thesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eclecticism as formulated initially by Richard Peterson includes the two ideas that cultural eclecticism is axiological (a mix of elite and non-elite genres) and represents a ‘standard for good taste’ (a new form of distinction). Research on eclecticism progressively developed an approach of differentiation with mixed-taste profiles complicating the relationship between types of omnivorousness and social value of cultural genres. This article discusses the two dimensions of explanations for French cultural eclecticism in the 2000s: value of taste and distinction. Based on a hierarchical classification of French culturally eclectic individuals in 2008, this article shows that a model of diversification of tastes is required to describe the contemporary diversity of portfolios of tastes and the absence of a dominant eclectic figure. It argues for a new model called ‘tablature’ which is a model of genre diversification combined with the social differentiation of tastes. The model results from the cultural field’s historical development into genres and changes in the judgement of taste. The classification suggests that we have passed from a ‘distinction’ argument to a ‘differentiation’ argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern societies, goods include more and more taste characteristics, i.e. characteristics that appeal to senses. Hedonic dimension of attitude is often dominant rather than utilitarian one (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982; Spangenberg, Voss et Crowley, 1997; Addis et Holbrook, 2001). That implies a growing role of tastes. Then, for firms, matching tastes and supplies in the markets of very diversified and differentiated goods becomes more problematic. May tastes be regulated to determine demands able to buy firms’ supplies?On the basis of the Foucault’s approach, the paper studies the microphysics of the regulations of tastes. Instead of reducing regulation to the result of the working of a specific and unique device, governed by the capitalist power, as Marcuse (1968), Galbraith (1968) and Baudrillard (1970, 1972), it considers a world regulation where firms try to turn tastes towards their goods, in a context of institutions (taste épistémès, cultural and social norms, taste heritages) and apparels (media, commercial networks…) playing on tastes and regulating some sides of them. Firms play on tastes to increase the value of their capital but encounter many other actors (the State, the consumers and their communities) in a world of competing powers and counter-powers.

Previous research shows that people systematically match tastes with shapes. Here, we assess the extent to which matched taste and shape stimuli share a common semantic space and whether semantically congruent versus incongruent taste/shape associations can influence the speed with which people respond to both shapes and taste words. In Experiment 1, semantic differentiation was used to assess the semantic space of both taste words and shapes. The results suggest a common semantic space containing two principal components (seemingly, intensity and hedonics) and two principal clusters, one including round shapes and the taste word “sweet,” and the other including angular shapes and the taste words “salty,” “sour,” and “bitter.” The former cluster appears more positively-valenced whilst less potent than the latter. In Experiment 2, two speeded classification tasks assessed whether congruent versus incongruent mappings of stimuli and responses (e.g., sweet with round versus sweet with angular) would influence the speed of participants’ responding, to both shapes and taste words. The results revealed an overall effect of congruence with congruent trials yielding faster responses than their incongruent counterparts. These results are consistent with previous evidence suggesting a close relation (or crossmodal correspondence) between tastes and shape curvature that may derive from common semantic coding, perhaps along the intensity and hedonic dimensions.

Copyright of Ethnological Forum / Etnoloska Tribina is the property of Etnoloska Tribina / Ethnological Forum and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines changes in tastes and practice in the context of establishing and maintaining a new cross-national couple relationship. Interviews provided accounts of the experience of change among fourteen Anglo-French couples. We describe two processes of change which, because accentuated in cross-national couples, reveal mechanisms lying behind the transformation and stabilisation of tastes and diets. Explanation of the evolution of taste and diet can be found in the interplay between aesthetic and ethical drives, incorporated bodily practices and social mechanisms of legitimation and integration. To make sense of gustatory and dietary change, tastes are best understood through their insertion in meaningful sequences, patterns and series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article is a literary documentation regarding the diversity of tastes, spices and flavours that are surrounding us, as a significant part of our cultural identity. Seen not only as a primar need to feed ourselves, but also as an important section of our life, food is nevertheless a joy to express ourselves, to imagine new savours and on top of that a key to discover and understand the values of alterity. In literature describing food and drinks means also to reinvent misterious worlds of tastes and fragrances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is country with rich diverse culture, traditions, lifestyles, food habits and tastes. Today Consumer preferences are changing and are becoming highly diversified. At present, the demand for foods that are based on traditional Indian recipes across different states India and abroad is increasing. May it be Punjabi dishes from the state of Punjab or South Indian dishes like Dosa,Idli, Uttappas from the South India, or Dhoklas, Jalebis, PavBhaji from Western India or Bengali sweets from Eastern India or Chinese dishes, people have developed a flair for these tastes. Thanks to the companies manufacturing these cuisines under the head of Ready-to-Cook or Ready-to Eat foods, which has made it easy to have access to these varied tastes of India under one roof. There are many reasons which can be attributed to the growth of Ready-to-Eat food in India. Some vital reasons are paucity of time, declining skills to prepare several traditional Indian food, changing roles of women and rise in globalization of Indians and Indian food. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the opportunities for Ready-to-eat food in Indian market. This study can also act as a powerful tool for marketers for strategy formulation in the area of marketing convenience food, brand positioning, pricing policy and distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cantonese operatic singing, one of the regional opera forms in China, flourishes mainly in the southern province of Guangdong. By exploring the culture of Cantonese operatic singing, this study relates older people's music participation to a sense of collectivism, thereby contributing to the maintenance of interpersonal relationships and promoting successful ageing. The study also illustrates how the musical participation of older adults can be influenced by the lifecourse and ageing in terms of both vocal abilities and levels of participation. Data analysed through participation observation in two Cantonese operatic singing lessons identify the rituals and core values of Cantonese operatic singing lessons. The findings help to explain how this particular music genre interacts with ageing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Free improvisations are unprecedented and underdetermined: their content and the way they unfold are not known in advance. Improvised performances have to be actively shaped over time. To do so, the improviser must articulate his embodied experience. In other words, he has to make sense of his experience1 by relying on his bodily know-how. And so this process of improvisation personally involves the improviser. Therefore, it should be a relevant point of entry for the study of his musical "personality" (or "identity," see Hargreaves et al., 2002). Firstly, to put this argument forward, we link free improvisations and personality in the light of embodied (enactive) and dynamical approaches. However, free improvisations are often played as a group. Secondly, so as to link improvisations and personality in the context of human interactions, we present a pedagogical method of free improvisation (the Kaddouch pedagogy; Kaddouch and Miravète, 2012) in which interactivity between learner and teacher is a core aspect. Then, we will show that the process of interaction by itself allows to unveil, to foster and to expand both improvisational skills and musical personality. Finally, we propose theoretical bases for this method, plus some explanations dealing with its effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]