To understand consumer perception of local foods and guide product development for small scale producers, the
present study focuses on consumer concepts and appropriateness for use of traditional versus novel local honeys.
Traditional and novel local honeys were distinguished by the different concepts, and these concepts captured additional
product information other than purely how much one ‘liked’ the product. The traditional local honeys
were predominantly liked and understood from a conceptual perspective as familiar, typical Danish (related to national
identity) and balanced, leading to emotional responses of joy and excited. All the novel local honeys were associated
with unique. However, the results for the novel local honeys displayed mixed conceptual associations and
elicited surprised and some negative expressions of emotions. Thus, familiarity appeared to be positively considered
with respect to the local honeys whilst novel honeys could be ‘too’ novel for the consumers resulting in negative
emotional responses. The appropriateness measurements were very important to indicate potential barriers
for purpose of use. This study provided consumer concepts linked to traditional and novel products which may be
useful in positioning and communication about local foods in the marketplace.