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Factors influencing the use and consumption of brown rice in Chinese restaurants
T. LIU (1), X. Wang (2), L. F. Marquart (2). (1) University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN, U.S.A.; (2) University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, U.S.A.
Increasing the use of whole grains in restaurants is a win-win strategy. It can not only give us a simple and productive approach to improve nutritional quality of restaurant diets, but also help the U.S. population to achieve recommended intakes of whole grains. The objectives of this study were two-fold: 1) Examine the current use of whole grains and factors that influence future whole grains use in Chinese restaurants. 2) Compare the acceptability of brown and white rice in a restaurant setting. Thirty Chinese restaurants were selected within the Twin Cities metro area to participate in this study. Face-to-face or phone interviews, based on a questionnaire were conducted with a manger/owner of each restaurant. Moreover, trained researchers observed consumption for brown rice consumers (n=200) and white rice consumers (n=153). Data were analyzed using a t-test and analysis of variance. The results indicated that in 15 of the restaurants, both brown and white rice were served. The main motivator for serving brown rice was to attract health conscious consumers, while low customer request was the major constraint for non-use. Authentic/family-owned restaurants were less likely to serve brown rice than chain restaurants. Brown rice (85%) consumption was significantly higher than white rice (79%) (P=0.02), based on an average serving size of 8.7 oz. These results suggest that future efforts should be taken to increase the availability of brown rice in restaurants, since the availability of brown rice increases the consumption among brown rice eaters.
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