Health vs. Taste: Understanding Student Perceptions of Breakfast Cereals and Traditional Indian Breakfasts in Mumbai
Hrutik Patil
, Prof. Abhijeet Wairagade
Breakfast cereals, Traditional Indian breakfast, Food choice behavior, Health perception, Taste preference, Urban students, Consumer behavior, Perception-behavior gap
Breakfast has always been simple until it wasn't. For urban students in Mumbai today, the morning meal sits at a crossroads of health messaging, cultural habit, and a genuinely packed schedule. This study asks one straightforward question: when Mumbai students choose between packaged cereals and traditional Indian breakfast foods, does health perception or taste preference win? 67 undergraduate and postgraduate students across Mumbai filled out a structured questionnaire. The sample was gender-balanced, with most respondents aged 20 to 26, old enough to be making their own food decisions without much parental input. The results were clear. Traditional foods like poha, idli, dosa, and paratha were the clear favorites, not just because they are familiar but because students genuinely felt satisfied after eating them. Cereals showed up occasionally but never as a true daily habit.
The most interesting finding was the gap between perception and behavior. Nearly three in four students believed cereals were healthy. Yet most of them were not eating cereals regularly. Taste was the missing piece. More than half said they would eat cereals more often if the flavor was actually good, and most were willing to pay more for something that felt both nutritious and enjoyable. The message for cereal brands is simple. More health claims will not help. Better flavor will, especially flavors that feel Indian rather than imported.
"Health vs. Taste: Understanding Student Perceptions of Breakfast Cereals and Traditional Indian Breakfasts in Mumbai", JETNR - JOURNAL OF EMERGING TRENDS AND NOVEL RESEARCH (www.JETNR.org), ISSN:2984-9276, Vol.4, Issue 4, page no.c836-c846, April-2026, Available :https://rjpn.org/JETNR/papers/JETNR2604372.pdf
Volume 4
Issue 4,
April-2026
Pages : c836-c846
Paper Reg. ID: JETNR_234116
Published Paper Id: JETNR2604372
Downloads: 00013
Research Area: Management All
Country: Virar East, Palghar, Maharashtra, India
ISSN: 2984-9276 | IMPACT FACTOR: 9.87 Calculated By Google Scholar | ESTD YEAR: 2023
An International Scholarly Open Access Journal, Peer-Reviewed, Refereed Journal Impact Factor 9.87 Calculate by Google Scholar and Semantic Scholar | AI-Powered Research Tool, Multidisciplinary, Monthly, Multilanguage Journal Indexing in All Major Database & Metadata, Citation Generator
Publisher: RJPN (IJPublication) Janvi Wave
