The purpose of this study was to analyze the food-related lifestyle choices of female baby boomers and to investigate variables regarding home meal replacement (HMR) buying behaviors and future needs. This study was conducted on 358 female baby boomers 53 years of age living in Gyeonggi and near Seoul. Out of 420 distributed questionnaires, 358 were returned and used for analysis (response rate: 85.2%). As a result of cluster analysis, three groups were identified based on the food-related lifestyles : a value-seeking group, a convenience-seeking group, and a health-seeking group. Among the three groups, there were significant differences in two socio-demographic characteristics, education level (p<0.05) and regular exercise (p<0.01), and in several health- and food-related habits, type of breakfast (p<0.01), type of dinner (p<0.05), dinner details (p<0.05), frequency of eating out (p<0.05), and eating habits score (p<0.01). The health-seeking group was significantly more likely to purchase ready to cook (RTC) items (59.1%) than were the other groups (p<0.001). However, the ratio of HMR purchasing for the purpose of meal replacement (p<0.05) and an HMR purchasing frequency of more than twice a week (p<0.001) were significantly lower in the health-seeking group. Reasons for selecting HMR showed a similar tendency among groups in taste (26.2%), convenience (18.7%), price (16.9%), safety (15.3%) and type of food (14.3%). However, the satisfaction scores for hygiene and safety reported by the health-seeking group were significantly lower than those reported by the other groups. More than two-thirds of all respondents were willing to purchase HMR in the future, though there were significant differences according to group: convenience-seeking group, 73.1%, health-seeking group, 70.1%, and value-seeking group, 65.7% (p<0.05). Our results suggest that the number of baby boomers purchasing HMR products will continue to grow and baby boomers will want HMR products to be more healthy (52.0%), safe (28.5%) and delicious (13.4%). An emphasis on taste was high in the convenience-seeking group, whereas an emphasis on health was high in the health-seeking and value-seeking groups. In conclusion, this study shows various food-related lifestyles amongst female baby boomers and illustrates the need to develop HMR marketing strategies targeted to these different lifestyles.

This study divided consumer food-related lifestyles into five types: health-oriented, convenience-oriented, safety-oriented, economics-oriented, and taste-oriented. According to this grouping, we separated the lifestyles into low-interest, safety and economics-oriented, taste-oriented, and high-interest. The results showed that the safety and economics-oriented group was the largest, whereas the taste-oriented group was the smallest. The results also showed that Korean food consumer behavior and satisfaction differed significantly among the groups, and that the high-interest food-related life group exhibited the highest satisfaction. This study is significant because it segmented the local Korean food market, applied food-related lifestyles, and examined submarket characteristics.

This study was performed to investigate the pattern of health food usage of the adults by food lifestyles pattern in contemporary Seoul. This study views health food consumption as a cultural practice in which people produce (and reproduce) diverse social relationships and cultural meanings. It also identifies food lifestyles and health food usage pattern of Korean adult in Seoul. This topics were discussed based on field research data collected by nutritional survey with questionnaire. To identify the relationships between pattern of health food and food lifestyles, 503 men and 437 women aged 18 to 65 years were divided into 5 groups of food lifestyles : Health Eaters, In-a-Dither, Traditional Eaters, Conscientious and People on the Go. As a substantial percentage of the subjects were used some kinds of nutrients supplement. The higher the age and family income were, the higher the percentage of health food usage was. There was the significant difference between sexes in usuage of health food. Health food usage was higher in the food lifestyle pattern of Health Eater than other food lifestyles.