Mountain product: the younger consumers’ point of view

Agriculture and its related food products are often considered a way for supporting local communities and economic operators due to their ability to produce socio-economic benefits for mountain people. On the one hand, many studies focus the attention on the consumer’s perception on local food, on the other hand, a few studies are oriented to analyse the mountain areas and related food production. In this case, the study aspires to contribute to the literature dedicated to mountain products. Starting from these considerations, this paper aims at contributing to analyze more in-depth the younger consumers’ perception on mountain products. An empirical approach was carried out to investigate the perception of the younger generations. To this end, a structured questionnaire was made and a focus group and pre-test activity were implemented to define the final version. Furthermore, several university students from the North West of Italy were involved in a survey to evaluate their perception of the mountain product. Some evidences emerge and some differences in demographic variables are pointed out.