Food and beverage pairing from a sensory and cultural perspective = Maridaje de alimentos y bebidas desde una perspectiva sensorial y cultural

Abstract

MÉXICO 2021Este proyecto es principalmente gracias a ustedes.Al Dr. Héctor, por su guía, por la dirección de este trabajo y por todas las enseñanzas personales y académicas que me brindó a lo largo del mismo.A Paula, porque a pesar de la distancia, siempre tuvo momentos para brindarme su ayuda. Gracias por todas las sugerencias y apoyo para mejorar este proyecto.A Carlos, gracias por tus consejos, sugerencias, por haber tenido tu apoyo desde el comienzo de este proyecto y por estar siempre al pendiente en cada uno de los pasos del mismo.Finalmente, gracias a mis compañeros de laboratorio, amigos, los cuales hicieron mucho más divertida esta etapa. 4 SUMMARYThis thesis focuses on the study of food and beverage pairing perception, with the objective of increasing our understanding of the cultural and sensory phenomena underlying the act of pairing. Over the last few years, food pairing has received increasing attention among scientists, chefs, and gastronomists who want to find successful food combinations and identify a pattern of how consumers pair certain foods. In consequence, food and beverage pairing has been studied by diverse disciplines like gastronomy, sensory science, consumer research, and history. Most of the available research has stated that, besides the intrinsic characteristics of products, such as their chemical and physical properties, several factors influence the way consumers pair food, with culture being a key factor. Despite the popularity of food pairing, there is still a lack of agreement about which methods are more appropriate for its research in sensory and consumer science fields. Therefore, the main scope of this thesis is the use of non-traditional and innovative methods that enable the study of food and beverage pairing through the eyes of consumers in different cultures. Social media investigation and projective mapping with consumers were explored as alternatives to traditional methods. In addition, the influence of culture on the perception of food and beverage pairing was investigated. Resultsshowed that social media could be a suitable methodology to research the relationship between foods and beer pairing across countries. In particular, image-based platforms could provide detailed information regarding food-beverage pairing and its context of consumption. In the case of projective mapping, the method proved to be a valuable tool for exploring consumers' food-beverage pairing and made it easy to understand the similarities and differences across participants from different cultures. To sum up, the results of this thesis showed that non-traditional methodologies could be used to better understand consumers perception regarding food and beverage pairings, as well as to explore the influence of culture.