This study investigated the consumption situations and the perception for the local food from November to December 2011 targeting University Students in Gyeongpook Region (Gumi, Andong, Kimcheon, Sangju), analyzed if there is any difference in the interest and the perception for the local food according to the demographic characteristic. The total number of investigation object is 457 persons, of investigation, frequency, percentage, T-test, AVDVA F-test , duncan multiple range test and and factor analysis
by utilizing the program of SPSS WIN 18.0 have been carried.

The result is summarized as follows:

1. The female student (60 %) is more than the male student; the student of non-specialty (65.5 %) was more than the student of specialty
(food related major) out of investigation objects 457 persons. The highest frequency in the monthly income of family 2~4 million won (45.7 %), the residential type of their home (37.0 %), the growth area of small and medium-sized cities (44.6 %), the eating out frequency of less than once a week (61.5 %) have been shown.

2. The range of local food to be thought was the sequence of the vegetables (81.8 %), the fruits (67.8 %), cereals (64.1 %), the meat (34.4 %), the fish (33.3 %), the egg (17.7 %) and the others (0.7 %). The internet (22.5 %), the highest and the campaign (5.5 %), the lowest have been investigated as the collection route of information for the local food. In connection with the production range of local food, the ratio recognized to be the local food produced in the city, county (36.3 %) was the highest; the standard of selection was the freshness at time of purchasing (32.6 %) was the highest. The reason to use the local food has been investigated to contribute to the regional economic development (60.0 %). It has been investigated as the highest that the intention to use local food restaurant was the intention of ‘to decide after visiting’. The use experience of local food was 42.9 %, the place of purchase was the large-scaled discount store (17.5 %) as the highest, and the fruit in season (32.8 %), the oil (32.2 %), and the cereals (29.8 %) of foods purchased have been investigated as comparatively high.

3. The interest for the local food 2.85 out of 5 point Likert scale has been investigated, the major in relation to food (P<.001), the household of more than 8 million Won of monthly income (P<.01), the student of more than 1 million Won of monthly revenue (P<.05), the less eating out frequency (P<.01) have been investigated to have high interest.

4. The tendency to perceive the local food as the regional perspective (3.94±.67) is highest, as the sanitary perspective (3.71±.80) is next and in the sequence of the public interest perspective (3.46±.70), the cognitive perspective (3.38±.69), the ecological perspective
(3.29±.77). The cognitive perspective in whether specialty or not and the eating out frequency showed the attentive difference as the difference according to the characteristic of investigation object. The ecological perspective in the eating out frequency, the regional perspective in the residential type showed the attentive difference. The sanitary perspective according to the eating out frequency, the public perspective according to the gender, the growth area, the eating out frequency showed the attentive difference.
* A thesis submitted to the Council of the Graduate School of Kyungpook National University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of science in June, 2012.