Food consumption and stigmatization under COVID‐19: Evidence from Chinese consumers’ aversion to Wuhan hot instant noodles

Abstract

Abstract Pandemics often lead to food stigma, and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic provides some evidence to this belief Mitigating food stigma during the pandemic is vital for consumption replenishment and economic recovery and helping the stigmatized people We conduct an empirical study to examine consumer behaviors using Wuhan hot instant noodles (WHINs), a packaged version of the famous Chinese dish reganmian, as a case study Although WHIN s name and origin signify Wuhan, the epicenter of the pandemic, the noodles could be actually produced elsewhere, but since the COVID-19 outbreak, WHIN has been avoided On the basis of our results, we find that providing scientific information about the irrelevance between WHIN and the coronavirus is not effective in changing the minds of people with stigma Moreover, stigma is more emotional than rational, especially among people with a lower self-identified social class and poor psychological state Therefore, psychological intervention programs may be warranted during pandemics to avoid potential stigmatization The findings of this study could help to resolve the stigma affecting regional agriculture and the food economy \xa0[EconLit citations: Q11, Q13]