Abstract
The general objective of this study was to investigate food preferences
among rural household (RH) and urban household (UH) in Ondo state of
Nigeria. Specifically the study determined socio-economic characteristics of
the respondents and food preferences of different groups of people in the
houshald (youths, adults and elderly) within rural and urban households.
Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 324 respondents for the
study. Questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed
using means, frequencies and percentage. ANOVA was used to test
hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. Findings show: preference for meat
and dairy was low (59.0%) among RH, but high (53.2%) among UH.
Preference for vegetables was high (57.9%) among UH but low among RH
(59.0%). Consequently, food preference was higher among UH (54.7%)
compared to RH (42.5%). There was a significant difference (t=2.333,
p=0.022) in food preference between adult in rural and urban households.
Also, there was significant difference in the level of food preference across
the three generations in the urban areas (F=4.632, p=0.011). On the overall,
there was significant difference in the level of food preference of
respondents across the three generations (F=4.304, p=0.014). This implies
that the food preference of the three categories differs. In conclusion,
generations’ food preference differs across the generation (youth, adults
and elderly) in urban and rural households’. The study recommends that
generations in rural households should be more educated on healthy food
choices to achieve food security.