Who uses herbs and spices?

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the usage patterns of herbs and spices among Australians and to identify how herbs and spices were consumed by respondents from different social backgrounds. Design/methodology/approach – In all, 1,023 adult Australians completed an online survey and ranked the frequencies of use of 21 herbs and spices and provided details of their demographics, cooking intentions and household types. Findings – Latent class analysis was applied and three types of usage patterns were identified, including high use, moderate use and low use of herbs and spices. The usage patterns were associated differentially with several covariates. For example, the chance of being in the high-usage group was positively associated with age, number of adults living in the household and cooking evening meals from scratch, but negatively related to levels of education and possession of cooking or culinary qualifications. Moreover, respondents who cooked their evening meals from scratch and who were not interested in receiving information or advice about making inexpensive but tasty meals were more likely to be in the moderate- rather than the low-usage group. Originality/value – The identification of groups of users of herbs and spices would enable health communications to be tailored to enhance the use of herbs and spices and reduce the use of other flavouring agent including fat, sugar and salt.