Today, energy bars are consumed not only as snacks but also as meal replacement foods. Convenience and nutritional supplementation are the main factors accounting for the increasing use of energy bars. Two hundred Chinese customers who attended the China Fisheries & Seafood Exposition in China, and had no inhibitions about consuming cereal bars were selected. The questionnaire was composed of CATA choices that selected both the reasons for liking and disliking four different types of cereal bars, namely topokki flavor (hot pepper paste), seaweed flavor, kimchi flavor, and ginseng flavor cereal bars with 10% of dried anchovy content produced by BadaOne Co. (Seoul, Korea). The purpose of the study was to investigate Chinese consumer’s attitudes and acceptance of different flavored cereal bars containing protein and calciumrich anchovy. For the selected Chinese customers, the acceptance score for the seaweed flavor was the highest, followed by topokki, red ginseng, and kimchi. The acceptance for the topokki flavor was higher than for seaweed for the attributes of color except for general acceptance, flavor, aroma, and texture. The results of the survey showed that the acceptance of kimchi was the lowest, contrary to earlier predictions. The results of the Check All That Apply (CATA) analysis showed that the reasons for liking the seaweed & anchovy flavor were the most diverse, and there was no reason chosen for disliking this flavor. The reasons for liking this flavor were listed as sweet flavor, healthy, seafood flavor, malty flavor, texture, new/unique, and umami. In the case of topokki and kimchi, the reason for disliking the flavor was umami, and in the case of red ginseng, the ginseng flavor was the reason for both likes and dislikes. CA analysis showed that both the flavor and emotional factors were positive for seaweed & anchovy and topokki, but negative for red ginseng. As a result, seaweed & anchovy flavor, which is familiar to the Chinese people, should be the first cereal bar considered for a launch.

Bulgogi (Korean-traditional barbequed beef) is one of the most globally well-known Korean foods. Though various attempts have been made to promote bulgogi, studies are limited understanding mostly to US consumers or foreigners who reside in Korea. China, the world’s most populous country, has the biggest market potential in the world. The purpose of this study was to understand reasons of liking or disliking bulgogi products in Chinese consumers who reside in China in comparison to Korean consumers. The bulgogi used in this study differed in its main marinating ingredients. Check-all-thatapply (CATA) questionnaire was used to collect the reasons why one liked or disliked the given bulgogi product. CATA result showed that even for the same product, Korean and Chinese consumers liked or disliked it for different reasons. In particular, unlike Koreans, Chinese consumers reported sweet taste and garlic flavor as reasons for disliking the samples with high amounts of sugar and garlic, respectively. This seemed to be the result of differences in familiarity of consumers to certain tastes and flavors. The results imply the influence of culture in consumer preferences.