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Lahne, Jacob

Animal and Food Sciences

2014

PhD

Why does Vennont artisan cheese taste good? Artisan cheesemaking is increasingly an important part of Vermont's agricultural sector, and this reflects the growing significance of artisan agricultural practice in the United States. This research involves a set of research studies, drawing on different disciplinary approaches, which seek to understand consumer sensory experiences of Vermont artisan cheese in everyday life. A transdisciplinary approach is necessitated by a basic theoretical assumption: sensory perception is an embodied, social practice, rather than an unconscious, physiological reflex. This proposition is explored and justified using theories and evidence from several disciplines, primarily sensory science and anthropology. Two empirical studies provide evidence to support this proposition and to explain consumer preference for Vermont artisan cheese.
A qualitative, focus-group study of artisan-cheese consumers demonstrates that their sensory perception is an active practice, based on both the intrinsic and extrinsic properties ofthe cheese. A quantitative, consumer-acceptance study demonstrates that these product properties affect consumer preference and perception in a controlled experiment, validating their importance within a sensoryscience paradigm. This research demonstrates that sensory perception is an active practice, and that this can help to understand sensory experiences of artisan products. In conclusion, the good taste of Vermont artisan cheese emerges in a dynamic between the material sensations ofeatingthe cheese with the symbolic importance of being embedded in networks of social values. Finally, the implications of this conclusion for sensoryscience research into artisan food products is discussed.