The Japanese consumption behavior on Thai curry noodle

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to study of the Japanese consumption behavior on Thai curry noodle. The data were collected from Japanese consumers in Japan. The questionnaires were divided into 3 parts. (1) From consumer behavioral information, demographic information showed that the majorities are female with 31-40 years of age and most of them live in Tokyo, and the most of the respondents were familiar with boiled narrow rice noodles, coconut milk, and traditional Thai noodles. (2) The experimental information on Thai rice noodles, first, the respondents observed the 2 kinds of instant rice noodles packed in plastic bags ready for sale. The line-scale was used in this study. The result showed that the respondents were likely to be attracted by the beautiful and colorful package, rice noodles with appropriate length, and informative details on the packages. From sensory data, preference and intensity of the 3 types of noodle including Somen, narrow rice noodle (Lek) and narrow rice Chanthaburi’s style noodle (Jan), the results showed that if you wanted to produce a noodle accepted by Japanese, the attributes of color, clarify, swelling, stickiness and tenderness might be similar to Lek. In the sensory evaluation test, three kinds of noodles were mixed with three curries. The 3x3 factorial test was utilized in this step. The result showed that the difference in type of curry is the main factor affecting color, concentration, and flavor of the curry. Moreover, some factors such as salty taste, greasy intensity, spicy taste, and after taste were significantly different. Green curry and spicy curry are among the best getting highest score in comparison to yellow curry. (3) The data set of the attitude towards this Thai menu, rice noodle with curry, showed that ninety percent of the respondents want to eat it because of the overall good flavor and delicious taste. The Japanese respondents also expressed their need to have instant Thai rice noodle with Thai curry on market shelf or in ordinary Japanese supermarkets.