Özet:

Rejection of novelty in neo-psychology is called neophobia which is mean fear of innovation. Food neophobia expresses reluctance of people to consume new or unusual foods based on their culture and current diet. The present study aimed to evaluate the extent to which undergraduate students (at Mersin University’s Faculty of Tourism) experience food neophobia. The Food Neophobia Scale is used to measure the fear of new foods. A faceto-face Turkish questionnaire was applied to 370 undergraduate students consisting of three departments (Department of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts, Department of Tourism Management, and Department of Tourism Guidance) with method of convenience sampling. The data were analyzed through t-test, Anova and factor analysis. It was determined that in general students' food neophabia level was neutral. On the basis of department, it was found that Gastronomy and Culinary Arts’ students were the most open in trying new food, whereas students of the Tourism Guidance department were found to be the most food neophobic. On the other hand, no significant difference was found between the “food neophobia” and “gender” and “marital status”. According to the analysis of students' attitudes towards new foods, it was determined that students were not open to trying ethnic foods 

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