General results of the discussions in both countries according to discussion topics

Discussions about food consumption concentrated on sensory characteristics, with taste being the most important for consumers in both countries. Consumers agreed that when it comes to food, no matter what the possible health benefits may be, the major factor responsible for any purchase is still taste. Even if the first purchase could be provoked by some marketing technique, subsequent purchases strongly depended on the product’s taste. According to two respondents, identified as male (M): “I think taste has the critical importance in this case,

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probably I would be interested in the new product...” – M, 24, Russia; “I could imagine that it (the new product – I.D.) would be bought because of the taste and not because of a subjectively noticeable health effect.” – M, 55, Germany.

A potentially higher price for anthocyanin-rich foods was of more concern for Germans than for Russians. However, the underlying reasons differ. While Russians are worried that a higher price would negatively affect their budget, Germans want to be sure that the price premium is paid for an actual improvement in their well-being: “For a higher price I wouldn’t buy. Because it’s the product that you eat every day and in a month it will make a serious amount of money…” – F, 62, Russia; “[p]rice and benefit are the background, and when I buy the roll and it tastes like a roll and I feel exactly the same like after the normal roll, why should I pay more money for the same taste and the same feeling? – M, 52, Germany. A possible explanation for these attitudes might be that consumer types with a rational accentuation are reported to be mostly present in Germany (Horska and Sparke, 2007).

The overwhelming dominance of taste as most perceived benefit indicates the convergence of consumers’ perception of functional food mainly as food, and emphasizes the importance of nutrition-related hedonic characteristics.

IV.4.1.2. Functional food perception

Consumers stated that they couldn’t decide about the purchase of functional food if they did not have enough knowledge about specific health-related features of the product, concerning, for example, the amount of product needed to be consumed, the time frame during which the product should be consumed, etc. “I personally am only convinced if I know that it is proven in the long term and you see that the person who ate is stronger or something.” – M, 22, Germany; “If it matters to you then you can inform yourself: which chemical substance is it, what does it consist of, from where does it come, how important is it for the body and so on.”

– M, 29, Germany.

Surprisingly, the idea of a reward for consuming functional foods as a part of healthier lifestyle and improved well-being did not appear in the discussions. As mentioned by Urala and Lähteenmäki (2004), the good feeling appearing from using functional foods could serve as a benefit for functional foods purchase. However, based on our interviews it seems that consumers question the connection between nutrition and health, or at least are not ready to use novel functional foods in place of foodstuffs traditionally considered healthy.

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Perhaps diseases not related directly to nutrition are not seen as preventable by consuming certain foods (Siró, Kápolna, Kápolna, & Lugasi, 2008).

Consumers are supposed to consider potential health effects when making a decision about purchase. However, it is clear from the discussions that consumers see foods with health benefits “first and foremost as foods” (Siró et al., 2008). Moreover, consumers question the whole idea of possible health improvement via functional food consumption:

“Altogether I’m skeptical when somebody says antioxidants work well against cancer, to lower the risk. Often it was the case that something was advertised because an internal study says it’s great. Ten years later it emerges that it boosts cancer. I’m really skeptical.” – F, 29, Germany; “I think it is all marketing trick. What is yogurt? It’s just the usual clabber. But the new fashion word, and it’s all going on, than they add also the word “bio”, so it’s all active now. Saying, let’s make digestion better. Finally it all comes to the fact that our body stops functioning, based on all these additives.” – M, 54, Russia. In both Germany and Russia, consumers were skeptical about functional foods’ influence on health. At the same time, consumers could be motivated to purchase if a product would address a specific deficiency in their body: “Maybe if your doctor looks at your blood samples and tells you that you have some insufficiency. And then I have the products with some vitamins and those without, and then I would of course prefer those with it.” – M, 23, Germany; “If there existed some diseases, the negative consequences of which could be reduced with the help of this product, if this action could be observed in a short but not long term then as a factor of recovery this product would go.” – F, 62, Russia.

IV.4.1.3. Novel foods: attitudes, knowledge, factors influencing consumption decision Bread is for most focus group participants a traditional product and eaten on a regular basis.

Many participants specifically stated that they prefer dark bread both in Russia and Germany.

Breakfast cereals are not consumed regularly by Russian consumers, who prefer more traditional porridge for breakfast. “Recently I try to buy more healthy foods, for breakfast I buy bread or oat meal…” – M, 24, Russia. “Dark bread in any case. Well, muesli too, but I love crunchy muesli. Yes, definitely muesli, but mainly bread…” – F, 23, Germany.

An absolute lack of knowledge about anthocyanins and their possible effect on human health emerged during all the discussions. Nevertheless, after providing a short description about anthocyanins and their health-related properties participants showed a general willingness to buy and try anthocyanin-rich cereals at least once. “When there is such bread

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in the bakery, they say it’s special; you buy it once for testing” – M, 29, Germany. “I would probably buy it to try but I’m not sure that it would become my everyday product” – F, 29, Russia.

In general, discussions about novel foods concentrated around the concepts of trust and food-neophobia which are discussed at more depth in the following sub-sections.

IV.4.1. Distrust and food-neophobia in Russian consumers’ perceptions of functional