While nutritional education often focuses on food consumers, this research focuses on cooks. How can we determine the characteristics that define cooks who are capable of changing the taste preferences and eating habits of their family from those who are less influential? Using in-depth interviews, focus groups, and a survey of 770 North Americans, we examine three suggested domains – cooking behaviors, food usage, and personality – and show that the domain of personality most effectively differentiates between segments of cooks.

Furthermore, personality segmentation enables researchers and those in public policy to identify which cooks are likely to be most socially influential, inclined toward healthy behavior, predisposed to new foods, and eager to learn.

Summary

The Gourmet Next Door: Personality Profiles of Great American Cooks

Great domestic cooks are “nutritional gatekeepers” who can unknowingly help define their family’s taste preferences and can facilitate healthy eating. An academic article published in Food Quality and Preference shows that not all great cooks are created equal. Indeed, within the United States, most great domestic cooks can be categorized in one of five categories: (1) Giving Cooks, (2) Healthy Cooks, (3) Innovative Cooks, (4) Methodical Cooks and (5) Competitive Cooks.

A nation-wide study focused on 440 cooks who were rated as “great cooks” by themselves and by at least one other adult family member. A 12-page battery of personality tests indicated that 9 out of 10 great cooks in the United States could be categorized as being one of 5 personality types:

• Giving Cooks (22%) ; Friendly, well-liked, enthusiastic cooks who specialize on comfort foods for family gatherings and large parties. Giving cooks seldom experiment with new dishes, instead relying on traditional favorites
• Healthy Cooks (20%) ; Optimistic, book-loving, nature enthusiasts who are most likely to experiment with fish and with fresh ingredients, including herbs.
• Innovative Cooks (19%) ; The most creative, trend-setting of all cooks. Seldom using recipes, they experiment with ingredients, cuisine styles, and cooking methods.
• Methodical Cooks (18%) ; Often weekend hobbyists who are talented, but who rely heavily on recipes. Although somewhat inefficient in the kitchen, their creations always look exactly like the picture in the cookbook. Highest success rate of all cooks.
• Competitive Cooks (13%) ; The Iron Chef of the neighborhood. Competitive cooks are dominant personalities who cook in order to impress others. These are perfectionists who are intense in both their cooking and entertaining.

These categories have important implications. Along with being able to identify what type of cook someone is, this information can also be used in designing nutrition education as well.*

“If the goal is to encourage consumers to eat more soy, Innovative Cooks would be the most interested in novel foods and are likely to be socially influential in passing along the good view of soy.,” said Dr. Brain Wansink, director of the Food and Brand Lab, which conducted the survey. He added that Healthy Cooks (besides being inclined toward health) are most likely to be eager to learn about new nutrition diets. In contrast, the Giving Cook segment, while socially influential, appears to have few other traits that would make us believe she or he would be an adopter of a relatively novel, healthy food (like soy).

For more information see Wansink, Brian (2003), "Profiling Nutritional Gatekeepers: Three Methods for Differentiating Influential Cooks, Food Quality and Preference, 14:4 (June), 289-297. To get the published article, click the link below:

doi:10.1016/S0950-3293(02)00088-5

Contact:
Brian Wansink, PhD
Food and Brand Lab, Director
110 Warren Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
Email: foodandbrandlab@cornell.edu

*This study was conducted at the University of Illinois, former location of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab.

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