How important is the meal experience?

The nature and quality of the ‘meal experience’ is one area of food and beverage management that has seen a substantial increase in commentary since the first edition of this book. The tone and conclusions of this revised chapter differ somewhat from the original. The main argument proposed for readers to consider and debate is that the concept of the meal experience has limited utility and is probably best regarded as a historical curiosity that has been deliberately or otherwise misunderstood to the extent that it tells us rather less about the behaviour of food and beverage consumers than we might have once supposed.