Search results

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the presence of other customers in restaurant social settings becomes a resource (referred to as “customer-to-customer interaction” or “C2CI”) to co-create an escape dining experience and stimulate dining outcomes, namely, food attachment and dining frequency. The relationships are further tested under the effects of regional economic conditions.

Data were collected by using a multi-step approach. The first data set was obtained through a personally administered survey, which included a sample of 356 Chinese tourists who dined at fine Western (i.e. Portuguese) restaurants in Macau. The second data set concerned economic statistics and was obtained from the statistics departments of mainland China and Taiwan. A multilevel design with hierarchical linear modeling was used to test the proposed model. Multilevel mediating and moderating effects were also examined.

The results suggest that customer escape dining experience significantly mediated the relationship between C2CI and food attachment, while food attachment fully mediated the relationship between customer escape experience and dining frequency. The multilevel effect of regional economic conditions played a significant role in moderating the C2CI–escape experience relationship in which the effect of C2CI was more salient for tourists from less economically developed regions in China. The experience–food attachment relationship was also contingent on the regional economic conditions in which the relationship was stronger for tourists from less economically developed areas. A multilevel mediating effect was also presented in the study.

The study contributes to the literature on experience co-creation in restaurant dining by exploring and testing the possibility of the presence of other customers to become a resource of experience co-creation, which is currently overlooked in the restaurant dining literature. The study advances the concept of co-creation by including the presence of other customers and restates the active role of diners in creating experiences. It also considers the existence of structural patterns in individualized experiences.

This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/00346659610105851. When citing the article, please cite: Anita Eves, (1996), “Dieting - are nutritional requirements satisfied?”, Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 96 Iss: 1, pp. 24 - 31.

The sensory characteristics of a wine are critical in determining its acceptability, and particularly repeat purchases. Assessments of wines are often made by expert wine tasters, however the use of sensory analysis methods offers an alternative approach that is less reliant on the expertise of one individual. This paper outlines a number of different sensory analysis methods, and gives examples of situations in which the methods might be used. These include the use of triangle tests to evaluate packaging materials, the use of scaling methods to evaluate changes in particular sensory characteristics as a result of changes in processing parameters, the use of sensory profiling to characterise a wine and determine changes that occur during storage, and the use of consumer testing to determine the key sensory characteristics of importance to a particular market segment.

Reports a study in which a structured questionnaire was used to elicit the attitudes and knowledge of 451 women (18‐35 years), 217 dieters and 234 non‐dieters to nutritional issues. It included questions on frequency of reading labels, attitudes to and likelihood of buying products labelled with qualitative terms, and understanding of nutritional terms. Data were analysed to determine differences between dieters and non‐dieters. Dieters were significantly more likely to read labels, and gave more priority to “low in calories”. Both groups most often ranked “no additives” as most important. “Calories” and “fat” were most often associated with “fattening”, but “energy” and “joule” were less widely recognized. Dieters recognized more energy‐related terms. Significantly, more dieters knew that fat has more calories than sugar, but the majority of both groups thought saturated fatty acids had more calories than polyunsaturated fatty acids. Results indicate dieters to be slightly more knowledgeable, but that confusion remained over a number of issues.

Over six years, first‐year students completed weighed dietary surveys, and their dietary intakes of a variety of nutrients were determined. Reports on sources of energy in the diet. The data collected were compared with recommended dietary amounts and with literature data on dietary intakes of young adults (not students). The data collected show energy intakes of students to be very similar to those of other young adults of a similar age. They tended to be more likely to consume fat at recommended levels, with females in later years consuming less than 35 per cent energy as fat. Data for females over the six years also suggest that total energy intakes are declining, which, if the trend continues, could lead to problems in satisfying other nutritional requirements. Alcohol consumption among students was similar to other people of a similar age group, although a small number of individuals were consuming a large proportion of their energy as alcohol.

Diets, notably diets aimed at weight reduction, appear regularly in women’s general interest magazines. Recently there has also been an increase in publications aimed at health promotion or slimming, and in the availability of “slimming aids”. The efficacy of some of these has been questioned, and concern expressed over the nutritional adequacy of some diets. Investigates the nutritional adequacy of nine diets drawn from a variety of publications. Most diets were aimed at weight loss, but some were promoted as a “new way of life”, e.g. food combining. Energy levels supplied by all diets were below current recommendations, thus weight reduction would be the result of low energy intakes. Overall, the nutritional value of the diets was reasonable.The main concern was low iron intakes supplied by the Food Combining for Health diet, where the diet is followed for long periods.

The media often portrays nutritional opinions to be in disagreement in relation to the links between diet and health. As part of a larger sponsored study, the authors had the opportunity to question, in a structured way, leading experts in the field of nutrition and health. Gives an analysis of the results, which revealed that experts were largely in agreement over the basic issues, with only peripheral areas showing a measure of controversy.

Reforms of the NHS’s healthcare structure have placed additional pressure on all aspects of hospital management. Evaluation of the effects of these reforms is difficult without more information on current conditions. Hospital catering in acute care trusts has little contemporary background research available. With this in mind, a survey of all the acute care NHS trusts within the eight regions in England was undertaken to investigate the hospital meal service process. A mailed questionnaire asked for the meal production system, food service method and food delivery personnel used by each trust, and a copy of a weekly menu. Results, from an 80.7 per cent response rate, indicate that most trusts use batch cooking to prepare their meals, and plated meal service to deliver the food to the wards. Almost 75 per cent of the trusts use nurses, at least in part, to serve food. English foodstuffs dominate the menus. Most of the trusts have moved towards meeting the goals set by the Patients’ Charter and other NHS recommendations.

The provision of food and drinks to patients remains a largely unexplored, multidimensional phenomenon. In an attempt to ameliorate this lack of understanding, a survey utilising a modified SERVQUAL instrument measured on a seven‐point Likert scale was carried out on‐site at four NHS acute trusts for the purpose of assessing the perceptions and expectations of meal attributes and their importance in determining patient satisfaction. The results of factor analysis found three dimensions: food properties, interpersonal service, and environmental presentation, with a high reliability (Cronbach’s α from 0.9191 to 0.7836). Path analysis further established sophisticated causal relations with patient satisfaction. The food dimension was found to be the best predictor of patient satisfaction among the three dimensions, while the interpersonal service dimension was not found to have any correlation with satisfaction. Bridging the gaps that exist between perceptions and expectations can improve the quality of meal services for the purpose of maximising patient satisfaction and ultimately aiding in patient recovery.

The purpose of this research is to show the evaluation of food hygiene knowledge and self‐reported behaviours of school children, assessment of children's attitudes towards food hygiene and evaluation of barriers to the adoption of appropriate food hygiene behaviours.

The food hygiene knowledge and self‐reported behaviours of pupils (4 and 14 years; Key Stages 1‐3 in the English system – or Scottish equivalent) were determined using age‐appropriate knowledge quizzes completed by 2,259 pupils across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Attitudes towards food hygiene and barriers to performing desirable hygiene‐related behaviours were established through semi‐structured interviews with 82 pupils who completed knowledge tasks in South East England.

Children generally had good knowledge of food hygiene. However, there were misconceptions about the nature of micro‐organisms and how they affect food. In addition, a lack of reminders and practical food activities, especially at Key Stage 2 (7‐11 years), coupled with poor hand‐washing facilities, meant that children did not always adopt desirable behaviours. Children gave suggestions for ways to help others to remember good practice.

The study identified areas of weakness in pupils' hygiene knowledge and understanding and has determined barriers to adoption of desirable behaviours at all times. It has also suggested ways in which food hygiene education could be made more engaging for pupils, and other methods to encourage good practice.