ABSTRACT
These authors undertook a complex study of factors active in ·a:; forming the 'meal experience' using a SERVQUAL methodology ~ and as a general conclusion, observed that 'it was impossible to .ra identify clearly the factors which make up the meal experience' ~ although suggestive associations in their data seemed to indicate ca that 'food was the most important element of the majority of e meal experiences ... ' (1996: 23), a view supported by Clark and 5l Wood (1998) and several other studies to have reached similar ~ conclusions. Could it be, shock, horror, that the idea of the meal :>. experience is not such an amalgam of tangibles and intangibles? ~
In the last chapter, we focused on 'how' people eat (with an emphasis on the importance of food consumption as a social and normally shared experience) and 'what' they eat in terms of the relative narrowness of preferences. In this chapter we explore more 'why' people eat as they do, and more specifically examine the scope for consumer choices, and the impact of such choices upon the meal experience (and indeed the effects of this 'impact' in turn upon consumer choice behaviour). To this end it is necessary to briefly consider the nature of the concept of 'choice' itself.
