Meal Experience Research Articles

974-P: Beyond Carbohydrate Counting (CC)

CC is central to diabetes self-management in patients on insulin. Measuring devices, reference materials, and time are required. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) is increasingly available to insulin requiring diabetics: a rich data set that can be used to assess glucose appearance (Ra), disposal (Rd), and insulin need beyond CC. Fat and protein also contribute the height and duration of the glucose concentration curve. This is not accounted for with CC. Most patient's base insulin doses on previous meal experience and CGM directional arrows and not CC. CGM provides a means for individualizing insulin management quantitatively beyond premeal CC. Calculations: Data: CGM meal related glucose concentration vs. time curve, Kg body weight to calculate Volume of distribution (Vd). Glucose clearance [CL = (1/time)*Vd)]. (a)=Vd*Pkglucose*e*conversion factor. Conversion factor (CF = 1.12) converts blood glucose to plasma or interstitial fluid glucose (ISF glucose). Meal/insulin taken can be expressed as glucose appearance (a)/insulin or glucose clearance/insulin taken. (a) and CL make it possible to calculate a true area under the curve which differs with the timing and amount of insulin before the meal. Example: Weight 80.1 kg; Vd = 135 dL, time 340 minutes. Baseline glucose (BL) = 71.5 mg/dL. Glucose Peak (Pk) = 159 mg/dL. Insulin taken: 13 units. CL = 43mL/min. Depending on the time insulin is taken before the studied meal: (a) = 159 mg/dL*e*Vd or (a) = (159 mg/dL*e-BL/e) or (a) = ((159 mg/dL*e) - BL)*Vd. CL/insulin and (a)/insulin. In this case: CL = 43 mL/min/13 units; (a) = 48.7 g/13 units. Meal by references: 46.0 g CHO. Conclusion: This methodology marries pharmacokinetics with diet/insulin responses and goes beyond problematic CC in quantitating glucose appearance and disposal. The calculations determine post-hepatic glucose appearance and disposal. If available meal glucose is known, hepatic glycogen storage can be estimated also. Calculations can be performed using a ruler, cell phone calculator, and CGM glucose curves. Disclosure J.S. Melish: None.

The paradox of “family”; creating a family environment without children in luxury accommodation in New Zealand

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to explore innovative solutions to the challenge of creating a family environment without children in luxury lodges in New Zealand.Design/methodology/approachIn-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with guests, staff and managers in a luxury lodge that excludes children. An interpretivist analysis of interviewees’ comments was undertaken.FindingsGuests at the childless lodge talked about the serenity and peace they experienced during their stay, and particularly the meal experiences. They thought that not having children on the premises is an advantage for this experience. Lodge managers said that not admitting children is their point of difference for the market that they are targeting.Research limitations/implicationsThis research contributes to the emerging research theme of family tourism and extends the concept of family tourism to include family units without children.Practical implicationsThere are significant practical implications in terms of industry approaches to creating a family atmosphere in luxury accommodation without children.Social implicationsThat a family atmosphere does not need to include children and enables luxury accommodation to cater to a diverse range of family units. There are also implications for social diversity beyond the traditional assumptions of the nuclear family.Originality/valueThe exclusion of children from luxury lodges is certainly not new, but the concept of maintaining a family environment without children is innovative and worth investigating to consider the wider implications of the paradox of family without children.

A Customer-Employee Encounter: A Review of Customer Quality Control on Restaurant Food Service

Food service involves customer quality control in helping to create a meal experience and service value. However, this is not the case as service failures are more often experienced due to challenges faced in the management of hospitality’s restaurant food service. The variability nature of services has compromised food service quality in addition to a myriad of both internal and external glitches. The purpose of this paper was therefore to provide a literature review in to customer quality control on restaurant food and beverage service, with the objective of identifying customer quality control factors. The Resourceful Evaluation Maximizers Model (REMM) as well as the Pain Avoidance Model (PAM) was applied in explaining the customer quality control function in hospitality’s restaurant business. In view of the literature review on this study, the motivating factors in the customer quality control include: tipping, on-the-spot customer complaints feedback as well as customer satisfaction surveys. The study explores these three factors in relation to their contribution to food service quality control mechanisms within the hospitality’s restaurant business. However, the study recommends both research surveys as well as experiments to back up this review.

Holistic Cuisine – A focus beyond the plate

The restaurant Alchemist was founded by chef and restaurateur Rasmus Munk in 2015. Recently having finished the first chapter in the tale of Alchemist, the team now embarks on chapter two. In this process, Rasmus Munk discovered a need to articulate the style of cuisine that has been cultivated at Alchemist since its opening. This cuisine, referred to by the authors as Holistic Cuisine, has a holistic approach extending beyond the plate to create thought-provoking, aesthetical, emotional and gastrophysical meal experiences. Just like gastrophysics uses gastronomy as an empirical base, the team at Alchemist uses knowledge from different fields, such as the sciences and the arts, as an interdisciplinary theoretical base. This base is used to express, understand, and reflect upon our actions and responsibilities of the meals served in the restaurant. In this paper, the two authors (a chef and a scientist) reflect on the creation of Holistic Cuisine originating at Alchemist. The discussion focuses on three aspects of Holistic Cuisine as seen through the lens of three dishes on the menu. It also includes reflections based on existing literature on meal experiences.

Dining alone or together? The effect of group size on the service customer experience

Within the broader field of consumer experience of services, this paper addresses the impact of the size of a group of consumers sharing the same meal experience in a restaurant. This research is based on the quantitative analysis of sales receipts from 2753 restaurants tables. Multinomial logistic regression models and variance analysis show that the individual spend per guest depends on the number of guests per table. They also reveal that the proportion of prix-fixe menus ordered by table (vs. à-la-carte) is mostly maximized for meals taken as a couple and minimized for meals taken alone, depending on restaurant settings.

Loss Aversion of Time: Serving School Lunches Faster without Impacting Meal Experience

ABSTRACTLoss aversion has been extensively studied in economics, but there is less discussion of it in the context of time. Results from a field experiment conducted in a U.S. public school lunch cafeteria suggest that students could be loss averse to time and that interventions, such as a pre-plated service lane could increase the speed of service and guide students to make better food choices. Faster, pre-plated service lanes may leverage loss aversion bias, be beneficial for larger schools, reduce wait time for students, and thereby increase their satisfaction with the service process.

A contextual identification of home-living older adults' positive mealtime practices: A honeycomb model as a framework for joyful aging and the importance of social factors

In this study, we outlined contextual identifications within positive mealtime practices among home-living older adults in Denmark. We aimed to understand and facilitate optimal dietary intake and to promote well-being for older adults who live at home. We used data from 22 participants, who wrote diary entries and took photos of their meal experiences over a 6-day period. We followed this with in-depth interviews, using the photos as mediators within a photo-elicitation framework. The results revealed that social factors play a major role in positive mealtime practices and that the types of commensal eating vary based on the contextual setting. Furthermore, we found that, in the new generation of older adults, some men have extremely good cooking skills and are interested in contextual food matters. Meeting older adults' needs for adequate nutrition requires in-depth knowledge, including a complex understanding of individual preferences and contextual everyday practices.

Hospitalsmåltider: et fristed for patienteri en sårbar situation

In the Ph.D. study, Hospital Meals: An Asylum for People in a Vulnerable Situation. A phenomenological-hermeneutic study about patients' experience of meals during hospitalization with a neurological disease, Malene Beck explores the meaning of mealtimes during hospitalization. The PhD showed how patients were longing for homeliness and that aesthetic elements associated with the meal had the potential to make the patients feel at home and safe. Furthermore, during an intervention called ‘Quiet Please’ it was illustrated that the patients experienced mealtimes as a significant and important part of their care and treatment, which meant they were allowed to take a mental break from the fast life of the hospital. The health professionals also saw the intervention as a positive feature.

Understanding Patients’ Meal Experiences through Staff’s Role: Study on Malaysian Public Hospitals

Background: One way to improve hospital food provision is certainly by understanding the management of hospital foodservices, but there is limited detailed information about staff roles in food provision in many hospitals around the world. Objective: The hospital meal experience of patients, a part of the services provided by hospitals, is becoming important. Therefore, the role of various hospital staff members was studied through their behavior, attitudes, and practices so as to understand how the foodservice system works to address patients’ food consumption. Methods: This qualitative research used the convenient sampling method. Data was collected by interviewing twenty hospital employees with different job scopes (nurses, doctors, dietitians, foodservice managers, and directors of hospital foodservices) in 6 public hospitals. Results: Themes such as providing familiar food, food as the motivational factor for consumption, empathy shown by staff, and influences of the eating environment were identified using content analysis. Conclusion: The viewpoints and experiences of key stakeholders facilitated the understanding of various factors involved in the provision of hospital food which affect patients’ decisions to accept and consume food.

What makes the hedonic experience of a meal in a top restaurant special and retrievable in the long term? Meal-related, social and personality factors

Knowing what makes a top gastronomy experience unique and retrievable in the long term is of interest for scientific and economic reasons. Recent attempts to isolate predictors of the hedonic evaluation of food have afforded several factors, such as individual and social attributes, or liking/disliking profiles. However, in these studies relevant variables have been examined in isolation without an integrative perspective. Here we investigated 80 guests enjoying a 23-course meal in a top gastronomy restaurant, in groups of four. Our main question concerned the factors driving the overall evaluation of the meal at its conclusion and after three months. To this aim we administered the Big Five Personality Inventory before the meal, dish-by-dish hedonic ratings, and a multi-dimensional Meal Experience Questionnaire (MEQ) at the end of the meal. Hedonic evaluations of the meal were collected immediately after the meal and three months later. Better immediate overall evaluations were predicted by both the number of peaks in dish-by-dish ratings and by positive ratings of the final dish. Both factors and the number of troughs were also critical for the long-term evaluation after three months. The MEQ dimensions overall interest, valence and distraction predicted immediate evaluations, while the long-term evaluations were determined by interest and high scores on the personality traits agreeableness and conscientiousness. High consistency of the hedonic ratings within quartets indicated the relevance of commensality for the meal experience. The present findings highlight the simultaneous relevance of food- and personality-related factors and commensality for a top gastronomy meal experience in the short and long-run. The uncovered relationships are of theoretical interest and for those involved in designing meals for consumers in various settings.

Associations Between Early Family Meal Environment Quality and Later Well-Being in School-Age Children.

Past research suggests a positive link between family meals and child and adolescent health. Although researchers have often relied on how often families eat together, this may not capture the complexity of the experience. Using a birth cohort, this study examines the prospective associations between the environmental quality of the family meal experience at age 6 years and child well-being at age 10. Participants are 1492 children of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development. When children were age 6, parents reported on their typical family meal environment quality. At age 10, parents, teachers, and children themselves provided information on lifestyle habits, academic achievement, and social adjustment, respectively. The relationship between early family meal environment quality and later child outcomes was analyzed using a series of multivariate linear regression. Family meal environment quality at age 6 predicted higher levels of general fitness and lower levels of soft drink consumption, physical aggression, oppositional behavior, nonaggressive delinquency, and reactive aggression at age 10. These relationships were adjusted for child characteristics (sex, temperament problems and cognitive abilities, and baseline body mass index [BMI]) and family characteristics (family configuration and functioning, maternal education, depression, and BMI). From a population-health perspective, our findings suggest that family meals have long-term influences on children's biopsychosocial well-being. At a time when family meal frequency is on a natural decline in the population, this environmental characteristic can become a target of home-based interventions and could be featured in information campaigns that aim to optimize child development.

Analisis Faktor-Faktor Meal Experience dalam Menciptakan Perilaku Konsumen Pasca Pembelian di Jubilare Dine and Wine Bandung

Restaurant and cafe industry competition is getting tougher. Implementation of the strategy is not right, causing not guaranteed of loyal consumers. When loyalty is difficult to form, at least marketers should pay attention to post purchase consumer behaviour. Consumers relate to a product, there are important elements involved in this interaction process, namely the consumer experience. Therefore, marketers should be able to pack the elements that can be controlled by the marketer that can create a positive meal experience. The presence of the stimuli provided by the organizer restaurant / cafe to create a memorable meal experience in order to stimulate the post purchase behaviour of consumers, the formulation of the problem and the purpose of this study is: How meal experience gained consumers restaurant / cafe. How consumer behaviour and how the influence of post purchase experience meal consisting of food and drinks, atmosphere, cleanliness, service levels and prices obtained by the consumer in the creation of post purchase consumer behaviour. With 110 respondents, researchers used a non-random sampling technique that is accidental sampling in selecting samples and processed using computer software SPSS 17.00. Based on the results of the correlation matrix between the sub variables meal experience of the post purchase behaviour obtained correlation results sequentially, namely, food and beverages (0.77), atmosphere (0.68), hygiene (0.65), service level (0.72) and the price (0.75). Effect of meal experience of the post purchase behaviour has a very strong relationship, which with a correlation coefficient of 0.764, this shows that the meal experience. is able to make a positive contribution then post-purchase behaviour will tend to be positive anyway.

「食事」づくりを意識した調理教育の試み(第II報) : 自炊大学生についての大学入学前の調理経験と食事内容との関連

「食事」づくりを意識した調理教育の試み(第II報) : 自炊大学生についての大学入学前の調理経験と食事内容との関連

Family meals then and now: A qualitative investigation of intergenerational transmission of family meal practices in a racially/ethnically diverse and immigrant population

Having frequent family meals has consistently been associated with better health outcomes in children/adolescents. It is important to identify how intergenerational transmission of family meal practices occurs to help families benefit from the protective nature of family meals. Limited studies exist that explore the intergenerational transmission of family meal practices, particularly among racially/ethnically diverse and immigrant populations. This study explores how parents describe differences and similarities between meals “then” and “now”, lessons they learned as children about family meals, lessons they passed onto their children, the challenges of carrying out family meals, and how families handle the barriers/challenges to intergenerational transmission of family meal practices. The study was conducted with a sample of African American, Native American, Latino, Hmong, Somali, and White families (25/category). Qualitative themes were explored with the overall sample, by race/ethnicity, immigrant status, and by time in the United States (US) as an immigrant. Parents overwhelmingly reported learning as children that family meals were important and conveying this message to their own children. Differences existed among racial/ethnic groups and time in the US as an immigrant. For example, Somali parents frequently endorsed having no challenges with intergenerational transmission of family meal practices. Immigrant parents in the US for a longer period of time were more likely to endorse learning/teaching about family meal importance, that the food eaten now is different than growing up, that a chaotic environment is a challenge to having family meals, and that they accommodate family member's schedules when planning family meals. Results demonstrate that exploring a parent's early family meal experiences may be important when intervening with parents from diverse racial/ethnic and immigrant populations when trying to improve or increase family meal practices.

Prospects for pro-environmental protein consumption in Europe: Cultural, culinary, economic and psychological factors

The current ratio between plant and animal protein in the Western diet is causing serious threats to both public health and the environment. Healthy, pro-environmental protein consumption requires a transition to a diet with more plant protein and considerably less animal protein. The present paper focuses on the prospects of this transition by analyzing consumer responses to some key options in the context of regional differences across Europe. The aim is to assess how responses to the options might be shaped by 1) cultural, culinary and economic spatial gradients (including GDP per capita) at regional level and 2) differences in environmental friendly behavior and gender at individual level. The study, covering all EU members in 2012, compares regional level statistics (food supply data) with individual level statistics (consumer survey data) and vice-versa. The south-north latitude gradient showed a decreasing trend in vegetable and pulse protein supplies and, in parallel, a decreasing trend in positive consumer responses to the key options, probably due to differences in meal experiences. The west-east longitude gradient showed decreasing levels of animal protein supplies and GDP per capita. Individuals' willingness to do something positive for the environment and their gender played a weak but consistent role in the responses. To effectively stimulate diet changes, it is important to seek ways in which culinary and environmental aspects can complement each other and to ensure that diet changes do not depend solely on individual decisions but become an integral part of regional social processes.

Analisis Faktor-Faktor Meal Experience dalam Menciptakan Perilaku Konsumen Pasca Pembelian di Jubilare Dine and Wine Bandung

Restaurant and cafe industry competition is getting tougher. Implementation of the strategy is not right, causing not guaranteed of loyal consumers. When loyalty is difficult to form, at least marketers should pay attention to post purchase consumer behaviour. Consumers relate to a product, there are important elements involved in this interaction process, namely the consumer experience. Therefore, marketers should be able to pack the elements that can be controlled by the marketer that can create a positive meal experience. The presence of the stimuli provided by the organizer restaurant / cafe to create a memorable meal experience in order to stimulate the post purchase behaviour of consumers, the formulation of the problem and the purpose of this study is: How meal experience gained consumers restaurant / cafe. How consumer behaviour and how the influence of post purchase experience meal consisting of food and drinks, atmosphere, cleanliness, service levels and prices obtained by the consumer in the creation of post purchase consumer behaviour. With 110 respondents, researchers used a non-random sampling technique that is accidental sampling in selecting samples and processed using computer software SPSS 17.00. Based on the results of the correlation matrix between the sub variables meal experience of the post purchase behaviour obtained correlation results sequentially, namely, food and beverages (0.77), atmosphere (0.68), hygiene (0.65), service level (0.72) and the price (0.75). Effect of meal experience of the post purchase behaviour has a very strong relationship, which with a correlation coefficient of 0.764, this shows that the meal experience. is able to make a positive contribution then post-purchase behaviour will tend to be positive anyway.

Sensory and consumer research in culinary approaches to food

Encouraging food scientists to cooperate with culinary experts opens ways for optimized food offers as well as innovative products and services. Knowing better the work of professionals from the food service and gastronomy sectors brings a holistic vision enriching methodological questions of sensory and consumer scientists. It is proposed to make links between foodservice research on meal experience, mainly exploring human sciences, and sensory and consumer science. Three disciplines were selected to complement current sensory and consumer practices: semantics and the study of food culture , cognitive psychology and multisensory perception , and linguistics and dish label . Moreover, a greater basic knowledge is still needed to model the various factors influencing consumer perception, choice and preference in real-life situations, opening new avenues for further research and the modeling of the meal experience.

Differentiating consumption contexts as a basis for diversity in food design education: Eating in or eating out?

Abstract Designers can play a significant role in providing the world population with food that is produced in a sustainable way, is tasty and healthy and can form the centrepiece in culinary experiences. However, design students will need to acquire more knowledge specific for the food domain if they want to qualify as cooperation partners for other food professionals. In addition, because the food domain is vast and diverse, food design education could focus on various application domains, resulting in design students with different profiles. In this article, I make a distinction between designing for a person who consumes food at home or is eating out. The first case emphasizes the food itself in the home situation, including food production, packaging, food buying, shelf life, preparation, serving, handling leftovers and waste disposal. In the second case, the consumer’s meal experience depends on the atmosphere in the restaurant, interactions with serving staff, the offerings on the menu and quality of the dish. In addition, several processes take place outside the consumer’s view, such as food preparation, storage, personnel management and business administration. Based on these topics and comparison with adjoining educational curricula, a list of training topics is derived. For all food designers, this consists of general design capabilities, food science, cooking skills, consumer insights and sustainability issues. In addition, the ‘eating at home’ designer should gather knowledge on agricultural production, food technology and food industry business, whereas the ‘eating out’ designer will need to focus mainly on food product knowledge, culinary technology, equipment engineering, restaurant design, consumer dining behaviour and hospitality business.

The Hospitable Meal Model

Abstract This article presents an analytical model that aims to conceptualize how meal experiences are framed when taking into account a dynamic understanding of hospitality: the meal model is named The Hospitable Meal Model. The idea behind The Hospitable Meal Model is to present a conceptual model that can serve as a frame for developing hospitable meal competencies among professionals working within the area of institutional foodservices as well as a conceptual model for analysing meal experiences. The Hospitable Meal Model transcends and transforms existing meal models by presenting a more open-ended approach towards meal experiences. The underlying purpose of The Hospitable Meal Model is to provide the basis for creating value for the individuals involved in institutional meal services. The Hospitable Meal Model was developed on the basis of an empirical study on hospital meal experiences explored through different epistemological positions and inspired by a sociomaterial assemblage approach. It frames an ontological position that considers meal experiences as dynamic, relational and socially constructed and supports the idea that meal experiences create different values and can be unpredictable.

Storytelling and meal experience concepts

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study is to explore how storytelling with local and regional origin can be used to develop meal experience concepts in restaurants. Focus is on Nordic food from the perspective of the experience economy. The first goal is to analyse the transformation of menus into experience concepts and dining areas into experiencescapes. The second goal is to investigate if storytelling activities in restaurants can lead to destination development. It is also reflected upon if meal experience storytelling in restaurants has implications for consumers’ everyday food consumption. Three cases in Sweden and Norway with different storytelling strategies are selected. In all these cases, the stories are unique, the places are linked to the stories and the personnel take part in the storytelling activities. The stories are easy to communicate and easy for the target group to connect to. The menus are linked to the story and are all based on local Nordic food culture and local food products. The menus are set and offered in experiencescapes that in various ways fit the stories. The concepts have contributed to the destinations with more visitors, more collaboration among businesses and increased media attention.