The way in which perceived quality affects consumer food choice is complex due to variations in intrinsic and extrinsic product attributes that interface with personal factors and the socio-cultural context. Taking the example of salmon fillets sold in the USA and Japan, this study uses a think-aloud protocol (TAP) as a data collection method and a corpus (text data)-driven approach as an analytical tool for uncovering how consumers infer quality cues on salmon fillets. The study aims to help in designing representative studies and may help in explaining survey results. The findings indicate that consumers infer quality under the influence of multiple factors, including individual knowledge of food production, processing and cooking, personal preferences based on culinary heritage and the socio-cultural environment. This study also shows how a TAP can be used in combination with text mining to provide richer insights into consumer choice. 

The science of gastronomy is a context-sensitive and qualitative application of human knowledge. While qualitative content analysis is a widely recognized research method, it is time-consuming, and its results heavily depend on the analyst’s expertise. This study addresses these challenges by employing automated content analysis (ACA), including tools like VOSViewer and AntConc, alongside qualitative methods from systemic functional linguistics (SFL). By analyzing 25 interviews with various professionals in gastronomy, the research aims to reduce subjectivity in interpreting data and uncover the essence of being a gastronomic chef. The findings highlight the complexity of a chef’s role, emphasizing creativity, collaboration, and innovation as key factors in delivering exceptional service and crafting the ultimate dining experience. Understanding a chef’s knowledge is crucial for enhancing service quality and comprehending consumer behavior, which is vital for service development.

Digital services in the field of food safety has been of increasing academix and practical interest in the past decade. Using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) framework of analysis, this study brings empirical insights from producers and traders in the wine industry between Europe and China on the effectiveness of use of anti-counterfeit instruments and traceability systems on the wine value chain. We identify barriers to technology acceptance and use and gauge the extent consumer trust can be restored with blockchain traceability systems. The findings indicate that the use of traceability systems remain contextually dependent on business environments that support and facilitate conditions of use for digital services. The findings also indicate that traceability systems should in essence be used together with other more socially tactile services.

This study examines the adaptation of the Uppsala Model to enhance the management of European Union (EU)-funded projects, particularly focusing on the macro- and micro-foundational elements of the model. The Uppsala Model, originally developed for firm-level internationalization, provides a valuable framework for addressing the complex challenges of EU project implementation, which include bureaucratic hurdles, diverse stakeholder management, and the intricacies of European integration. This paper highlights the persistent issues faced by project managers despite improved application processes and skilled beneficiaries. By applying the Uppsala Model, which emphasizes incremental knowledge development and resource commitment, this study aims to bridge the gap between fund acquisition and project delivery. The integration of both macro- (broad external factors) and micro- (individual and organizational behaviors) perspectives of the Uppsala Model offers a comprehensive approach to managing international, multi-stakeholder EU initiatives. This approach is exemplified through the SuMaNu project, which addresses nutrient recycling and sustainable manure management in the Baltic Sea Region. The findings suggest that the Uppsala Model’s principles can be effectively applied to enhance the execution of complex EU projects by fostering better stakeholder relationships, incremental learning, and adaptive strategies. This study underscores the relevance of experiential learning and network perspectives in achieving successful project outcomes in the EU context

Due to the increasing complexity of the global development challenges that need solving, the past thirty years have seen interdisciplinary research (IDR) and university-industry collaboration developing into its own subject of research. While there have been numerous studies on defining and evaluating IDR, what remains under-researched is a unifying or integral perspective in IDR theoretical framing and conceptualisation much due to the nature of the multiple disciplines that constitute IDR. This study takes an integral systems theory perspective in address of the knowledge-gap in IDR, using the example of the project CATCH, a capture-based aquaculture research project funded by the Research Council of Norway and industry partners, for improved Norwegian cod products to local and global markets. The purpose of this study is to investigate and uncover the management strategies of the project CATCH, with the goal of illustrating how elements of such a management strategy can be mapped unto a four-quadrant integral systems theory model towards a unified perspective of an IDR project. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has projected a 20% growth in global fish production and consumption by 2030. CATCH, which is situated in the field of fisheries and aquaculture research, makes for a timely and interesting example of how an inherently IDR project is managed and executed by multiple stakeholders from academic institutions as well as industry partners. The contribution of this study is twofold, (i) working towards the consolidation of the theoretical foundations of IDR, and (ii) developing empirical insights into the management processes and strategy of an IDR project

International interdisciplinary projects (IDR) are a microcosm of multicultural landscapes. Through a culture theories perspective, in particular, viewing culture as a system of explicitly and implicitly coded values, this chapter conveys the processes and results of a study that investigates and uncovers the management strategies of an IDR project, CATCH. The study of culture from a value systems approach enables a more subtle and nuanced approach to the analysis and framing of cultural heterogeneity in the context of an IDR project, beyond the often dichotomous, cultural dimensions construct. Due to the multiple actors in an IDR project, the example of CATCH illustrates a more nuanced view of cultural filters that arise from each academic discipline. Using the culture as value systems perspective, this chapter shows how multicultural landscapes and different resulting knowledges can be leveraged towards an integrated worldview when solving challenges in a globalized world with limited resources.

Creativity and innovation in culinary research have gained steady academic interest over the last decade. The scholastic interest in creative innovation ranges from its artistic value to culinary creations, gastronomic experiences, and food science and technology. Creative innovation is important for food enterprises to succeed in a highly competitive market. In the context of the New Nordic Cuisine, entrepreneurs and chefs are constantly challenged to bring something new to the dining table. In this context, the processes of creative innovation remain under researched, particularly in the use of seaweed. As such, using the example of seaweed, a relatively new food in the New Nordic Cuisine, the objective of this corpus based study was to explore creative innovation from a systems integral approach, in order to uncover salient themes that contribute the processes of creative innovation in culinary research, and bringing new foods to market. For a corpus driven study, we built a small corpora of interviews with chefs, and food entrepreneurs. We enquired after what inspired and motivated them when faced with a challenge of bringing a relatively new food to market, or in creating new dishes with new available food technologies. The results suggested that food technology plays a critical role in creative innovation, and the resulting new dishes that can be presented to customers. They also suggested that seaweed in the New Nordic Cuisine is an emerging food concept, and that it is embedded in a social and cultural history and familiarity of the Nordic people. 

Creativity and innovation are important elements in the development of new gastronomy services. This article brings insights from interviews with 25 Nordic Chefs, and their view the processes of creative innovation in the field of culinary science and gastronomy service. An integrated human-centric and product-centric perspective of gastronomy service is presented from the consolidated interview transcripts.

This study applies an economic sociology perspective in exploring the importance of cultural embeddedness of firm economic activities across borders. The findings are data driven and uses the seafood trade and its shared business environments between Norway and China as case example. The empirical findings of this study show that market-as-network, and actor-to-actor interrelationships will become increasingly important in forming resilient business networks. It also illustrates how economic sociology can provide a holistic framework of analysis in studying cultural embeddedness.

This article presents a qualitative case study of the Norwegian seafood industry’s sustainability communication on corporate websites. The research questions focused on how sustainability is communicated, and the communication channels employed by Norwegian seafood companies. The study found that sustainability is communicated through ecological certification, awareness towards the environment and social compliance, and engagement in knowledge exchange. The study highlights the need to create standardized language and a coherent discourse for competitive advantages in ecologically value-added products and digital services. Companies can use underutilized digital resources such as podcasts and direct online sales to consumers to improve stakeholder engagement. The study suggests the direct and active involvement of consumers in designing products that consumers desire, which can increase market share for the Norwegian seafood industry. The limitations of the study are the lack of feedback from small to medium-sized companies, limiting the generalizability of the findings. The study recommends that the Norwegian seafood industry supports developing digital service resources for small and medium-sized companies to remain competitive in the long term.