Studies involving young adults have clearly demonstrated that familiar-looking foods make people expect a certain taste based on previous memories, to the extent that this actually influences the perception of the food during consumption, whereas with unfamiliar-looking foods the perception is based on sensory evaluation of the oral characteristics
The influence of food familiarity on food perception/liking has been investigated among seniors in a few studies.
However, the results observed so far are not straightforward to compile. Firstly, seniors are reported to have a clear preference for well-liked familiar foods as opposed to unfamiliar foods, independent of their sensory performance.
Secondly, Pelchat observed that seniors, especially those with poor olfaction, were more willing to accept novel foods than were younger adults.
Finally, it is reported by Maitre et al. that seniors with decreasing sensory performance and increasing dependency might also become pickier and reject a wider range of (familiar) foods .
Since seniors’ food behavior is thought to be largely habit driven, a close link with food familiarity can be expected. It therefore seems warranted to increase our current understanding of food familiarity as a modulator of seniors’ food perception, liking and intake.