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Considering the importance of creaminess in consumers' overall liking of many food products, it is crucial to understand how consumers perceive creaminess and what they expect when a product is described as creamy. In this context, the objective of the present study was to gather information on how consumers in Spain and Uruguay, two Spanish-speaking countries, understand creaminess and to identify what characteristics they associate with a creamy product. A word association task was performed with 107 and 120 participants in Valencia (Spain) and Montevideo (Uruguay), respectively. Participants were asked to write down the first four words, descriptions, associations, thoughts or feelings that came to their minds when thinking of creaminess. Consumers' elicited terms were grouped into seven dimensions. Creaminess associations were mainly related to creamy food products, texture, flavor and appearance attributes. Consumers mainly associated creaminess with smoothness, softness, sweetness and pleasantness. Differences were found between results from Spanish and Uruguayan consumers, which indicate that, even within the same language, cultural differences in consumers' understanding of the term creaminess exist. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSResults of the present work contribute to knowledge of consumers' perceptions and expectations regarding creaminess, which could help to better understand and predict the likelihood of success or failure of different creamy products. A better understanding of creaminess can be useful for product development, ensuring that areas relevant for consumers are targeted and identifying the cues that they associate with a better liking of creamy products. Also, the vocabulary elicited could be used to improve the design of expert panel trainings, with the use of more consumer-relevant terms. Journal of Sensory Studies

a b s t r a c tConsidering the great impact of texture on consumers' liking of several products, it is important for food companies to understand how consumers describe the texture of food products. The aim of the present study was to get an insight on consumers' texture vocabulary in three different Spanish-speaking countries: Argentina, Spain and Uruguay. A free listing task was carried out in each country with 107-120 consumers. Participants were asked to list all the texture characteristics of food products they knew about. Between 80 and 112 terms were elicited by consumers, comprising mainly words related to texture characteristics of food products. By simultaneously considering frequency of mention and average order of elicited terms, the most familiar texture terms in each country were identified, being the most frequently used texture terms similar. Results from the present work would contribute to a greater knowledge of the vocabulary used by consumers to describe the texture of food products and show the existence of crosscultural differences in word usage within a same language.

Creaminess is a complex sensory attribute that is critical for consumer liking in a wide range of products. For this reason, it is crucial to understand consumers' expectations when trying a creamy product. The aim of the present work was to study consumers' creaminess perception in three different Spanish-speaking countries. Between 107 and 120 consumers were recruited from Argentina, Spain and Uruguay. Participants were asked to provide a definition of creaminess and to list all the creamy products they knew and all the sensations they perceived when consuming a creamy product. Results from the present work suggest that consumers' perception of creaminess seems to be mainly related to tactile and kinesthetic sensations such as smoothness, viscosity, melting and softness. Differences were found between the outcomes from consumers in the three countries, which indicate that even within the same language, cultural differences exist in consumers' understanding of the term "creaminess." PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSResults from the present work could contribute to a greater knowledge of consumers' creaminess perception and particularly about the textural attributes and sensations that consumers expect to find when they try creamy products. Understanding what consumers expect from a creamy product and what expectations are raised when thinking of creaminess, could assure that consumers' expectations are fulfilled, increasing the success of new products, including salty food items as soups or vegetable purees. Moreover, results could also be useful when selecting key instrumental or sensory measurements to predict consumers' perceived creaminess. ISSN 0022-4901 Journal of Texture Studies