This research aims to understand the current state of consumption for medicinal food among both male and female students aged between 20 and 59 enrolled in culinary education at technical education centers i.e. whether the students are aware of medicinal food, which information search channels they use, their dining experience, reason behind not having any experience consuming or using medicinal food, preference for medicinal food, preference for medicinal food types etc. The study also aims to grasp the current state of consumption for medicinal food and the intent to participate in medicinal food education by different dietary lifestyle, as well as the current state of consumption for medicinal food and the intent to participate in medicinal food education by demographic attribute.
A preliminary survey for this research was conducted between September 1 and September 4, 2014 and the main survey was conducted between September 5 and September 20, 2014. The survey was conducted among students residing in Seoul and the Gyeonggi-do region enrolled in 3 technical education centers run by the Seoul city government. The convenience sampling method was employed for this research. 300 surveys were sent out and 276 were returned (return rate : 92%), of which 12 were discarded for their insincere answers or lack of reliability. A final of 264 survey responses (valid : 95.7%) were used in the analysis.
Results of this research can be summarized as follows.
First, the demographic characteristics of the survey subjects showed a higher percentage of females with 192 female respondents (72.7%) and 72 male respondents (27.3%). Looking at the age distribution, the largest number of people were in their 40s with 93 respondents (35.2%), and in terms of occupation, the largest number of subjects were full-time homemakers with 100 respondents (37.9%). Classified by cooking experience, 121 respondents (45.8%) had less than 2 years of experience, and by monthly income, 64 people (24.2%) said they earned KRW 4 million or more. In terms of family composition, 2 generation families (parents+children) were the most common with 153 responses (58.0%), and most people resided in Seoul with 214 people (81.1%) but there were many respondents residing in Gyeonggi-do with 48 residents (18.2%).
Second, results for the current consumption status of medicinal food showed a large number of positive responses to the item asking whether they were aware of medicinal food. Asking the information search channel among those who had knowledge of medicinal food, the most popular channel was TV·radio and the internet. As for dining experience, maemil jeonbyeong ssam (buckwheat crepe) had been eaten before by the largest number of people. To the question asking why respondents did not have any experience cooking with or consuming medicinal food, the most popular response was that they were not interested in medicinal food. Among the different types of medicinal food, people enjoyed, by order of preference, vegetable dishes, steamed dishes, rice dishes, and roasted dishes.
Third, a total of 5 factors were extracted based on factor analysis results for 20 different questions designed to measure dietary lifestyle and were named as gourmet oriented, social education oriented, health oriented, convenience oriented, and information oriented.
Fourth, a total of 3 factors were extracted as a result of factor analysis of 8 questions aimed at measuring important factors in the awareness for medicinal food and were named as health characteristic, negative self-awareness, and intent to purchase.
Fifth, a total of 3 groups emerged when lifestyles were categorized in accordance with responses to 5 factors of dietary lifestyle and were named the convenience oriented group, gourmet?health oriented group, information oriented group.
The convenience oriented group primarily consisted of younger generations in their 20s and 30s with short cooking experience and belonged to a 2 generation family whereas the gourmet?health oriented group were made of people with the most robust amount of economic activities in their 30s and 40s and preferred the shortest education period. The information oriented group appeared to be mostly people in their 40s.
Six, looking at the current status of consumption for medicinal food by lifestyle, people belonging to the gourmet?health oriented group preferred to use the TV, radio as their choice of information search channel, and also the internet was another popular method of searching for the gourmet?health oriented group. Preference for medicinal food among the convenience oriented group were ranked as rice dishes, soup/stew dishes, and roasted dishes while the gourmet?health group enjoyed porridge dishes and vegetable dishes. The information oriented group appeared to favor steamed dishes the most.
Seven, delving into the intent to participate in medicinal food education by lifestyle, statistically significant differences were found according to the preference for medicinal food education organization. The strongest response for education at culture centers came from the convenience oriented group. The gourmet?health oriented group also preferred culture centers, and the information oriented group did prefer culture centers the most however they also had a large portion of the group choosing culinary academies or schools.
Eight, the current state of consumption for medicinal food by demographic characteristic, statistically significant results were observed by gender where males preferred roasted dishes while females enjoyed vegetable dishes. In terms of search channels for information on food, the current state of consumption for medicinal food by occupation revealed that full-time homemakers relied on TV, radio whereas people in sales/service, professional/technical vocations searched through the internet. Students appeared to search information through a variety of channels. In term