Acceptance and Preference of Chinese Meals with Boba: Influence of Meal Characteristics and the Consumer’s Personal Experience

Following the trend of boba food, this study explored how meal characteristics and consumers’ personal experience could influence consumers’ acceptance and preference of Chinese dishes with boba. Results showed that a meal’s hardness texture could significantly influence the taste preference of its mixture with boba. Soft meals with boba got significantly more credit than firm meals. The consumer’s perceived visual attractiveness of a boba meal was found to be essential to their willingness to try it and their pleasantness after tasting it. Attitudes towards boba meals were compared among people from Southeast Asia, Europe, and China. The Europeans showed lower food neophobia than the Asians, along with a higher tendency to try boba meals. After tasting meals with boba, the South Asians tend to give more credit, while the Chinese showed the lowest acceptance and preference for most of the boba meals.