## 5 Conclusions and Future Research  
The present study provides an initial insight into the behavioral attitude and perception of consumers toward the TFs, in a pandemic situation, an event that has not occurred with this intensity for the last 100 years. The present contribution outlined the meaning of TFs in the Greek consumers' minds, and it identified the variables that predicted the preference for the purchase of TFs during the pandemic and beyond. To this purpose, an online survey was applied to a sample of 510 persons with age and sex quotas balanced between ages and sex, educated and employed at the time of the survey. Because of the change in lifestyle, consumers are expected to change their habits and the motivations that drive their food choices and consumption. With people spending more at home and dining out becoming less accessible, we did not notice a major shift in people's attitudes and behaviors concerning TFs Our results show that the consumers participating in this study have not altered their positive attitude and perception toward the TFs of the northwest region of Greece (Epirus) due to the pandemic. They are consumers who evaluate good quality to price ratio, on sale and easy to prepare foods, and evaluate the TFs of Epirus as follows:  
Regarding their perception of the TFs of Epirus, our findings indicate that they know that Epirus produces a lot of them, with nutritional benefits, made by local raw materials, and local food companies with an economic impact on the regional economy. They are fans of these products, recommending them to residents outside the region who, they believe, would purchase them if they were available in their areas. They believe that the TFs are a major promotion tool for the specific northwest region of Greece. However, they believe that TFs are not adequately promoted within the region and abroad, and this remains a major drawback for their growth and development, despite the cheap and easy access of the Internet advertisement, which is not used properly yet. Regarding their buying habits, they buy them mainly from supermarkets or sometimes from grocery stores once per week or a month. The purchase online is still very low despite the tendency for more and more online shopping due to the pandemic worldwide. They buy the most popular kinds, namely the local traditional cheese and the other dairy foods, followed by wines and aromatic herbs. They are satisfied with the packaging, the quality, and the price of what they buy and consume, and they have increased the consumption during the pandemic. These findings are promising for the role of the TFs, as major local economic drivers, after the COVID-19 crisis. However, further studies are needed to investigate the long-lasting effects and adaptation of TFs consumption behavior to the \"new normality\". These studies will also identify further the required parameters in order for the TFs to be integrated into the daily consumption of the consumers, thus strengthening their healthy diet. As our sample was recruited by convenience, more women, more people with university degrees, and with jobs within the pandemic participated in the survey, and this constitutes one limitation of the study, also considering the relatively limited number of responses obtained. The second limitation of the study is the use of the TFs only of the region of Epirus as compared with all TFs of Greece and beyond. However, this study is the first approach to understand the habits of TFs purchase and consumption in the current pandemic crisis, highlighting which aspects are more relevant for the consumption of these types of products from the consumers' point of view.