After a two-year break due to COVID-19, the International Food Marketing Research Symposium took place in San Antonio, Texas, on June 14-16, where UF/IFAS Food and Resource Economics assistant research scientist Angelia Chen was awarded Best Paper.

The peer-reviewed academic conference provides a forum for discussion and communication of food marketing research and covers topics such as consumer behavior, marketing strategy, agribusiness, pricing, advertising, sustainability, and ethics.

At the conference, Chen, who will be beginning as an assistant professor in the department in August, presented a paper entitled ” A cross‐national comparison of fresh fruit choice motives and consumption patterns.”

“This study proposes a new fruit-specific choice motive measurement and conceptual framework of how these choice motives influence fruit intake and diversity,” Chen said. “The measurement and conceptual framework are tested by estimating fresh fruit consumption patterns in a cross-national setting involving eight countries.”

Chen’s presentation was included as part of a session on local food, origin branding, and food choice motives. The paper was selected as an award winner based on the quality of both the work and her presentation at the meeting.

“The IFMRS conference brings together an international group of food marketing scholars sharing the same passion for decoding food-related decision-making,” said Chen.  “International networking, interesting presentations, academic discussions, and delicious food all made this conference a rewarding experience and exciting memory.”

Chen was the lead author on the paper and her co-author was department chair Lisa House.

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