A Study on the Measures to Commercialize Regional Cuisines for the Activation of Rural Convergence Industry

Objectives: The purpose of the present study is to propose diverse cuisines that meet consumption trends utilizing regional specialties for the activation of rural convergence industries utilizing tomatoes as a main material. Methods/Statistical Analysis: The cuisines for the present study were made using self-produced food materials that does not require much manual work while enabling experience considering surrounding conditions. In addition, health, in-season materials, and diet were considered, mainly one-dish meals and snacks made using cooking methods such as baking, steaming, low-salt, and vegetarian diet were developed, and the prices were planned to be around 5,000~10,000 won. The cuisines made utilizing tomatoes were finally selected through sensory evaluation. Findings: Tomato with spaghetti, tomato topped pizza, tomato steamed bun, tomato with curry, tomato stuffed fried rice, tomato topped baguette, and fried tomatoes were selected as cuisines made utilizing tomatoes, the recipes of individual cuisines were presented on the basis of four servings, and this tomato dishes nutritional contents per serving were examined. According to the results of a questionnaire survey on the intake frequency of cuisines utilizing tomatoes, most of the survey subjects were shown to eat such cuisines at least once per week and according to the results of sensory evaluation, tomato topped baguettes showed the most positive responses in tastes, sugar content, texture, and overall satisfaction. Tomato steamed buns did so in flavor, and fried tomatoes did so in tomato scent. Tomato topped baguettes showed the highest overall satisfaction with M=4.43 followed by fried tomatoes(4.18), tomato steamed buns(4.18), tomato topped pizzas(4.08), tomato spaghetti(4.02), tomato curry (3.81), and tomato stuffed fried rice(3.81) indicating that the levels of satisfaction with tomato topped baguettes, fried tomatoes, and tomato steamed bun were high. Improvements/Applications: The tomato cuisines developed in the present study will enable tomato farms to create added values by selling tomatoes that have been sold only as a raw product as cuisines to consumers who visit their farms or by utilizing the cuisines for cooking experience programs and this can be a measure to activate rural convergence industries.