To Örebro University

In the pursuit of more sustainable diets, researchers have been studying ways to promote a transition from animal- to plant-based meals in foodservice contexts by influencing participants' conscious choices through names, labels, claims, and information. This critical review found that these interventions usually mobilize only those already engaged in reducing the consumption of animal products and often only during the intervention period, failing to influence those who eat most meat or to create long-lasting effects. Analyzing the choice for vegetarian meals against meals with meat in recently published studies conducted in foodservice contexts, we argue that the transition to more sustainable diets should rely less on consumers' willpower and more on public policies and institutional measures that change the availability, price, and visibility of plant-based meals. Inspired by behavioral sciences, this paper discusses interventions that challenge meals with meat as the default option and suggests hybrids as a path to increase the availability, convenience, and sensory familiarity of vegetarian meals. The paper ends with proposals for questions, interventions, metrics, and issues to be researched by consumer science, including questions on the degree of freedom of consumers' choice and what would be the ethical limits to telling half the truth about hybrids.

The Five Aspect Meal Model (FAMM) is a valuable tool for exploring the entirety of the meal. Factors within the model are interdependent, and each relates to different forms of knowledge such as science, practical production, aesthetics and ethics. The present paper explored the role of consciously designed artefacts in the dining room, especially wine glasses, and their importance for the meal experience from the perspective of sommelier craft, art and science. Knowledge and awareness of utensils are of importance during the process of preparing, planning and serving a meal. A glass is, in effect, an instrument for communicating wine to the human senses. Therefore, the design is an important part of the meal experience, and its effect in enhancing the meal can be evaluated using FAMM principles. By working consciously with design, greater guest satisfaction can be achieved and the meal experience can be enhanced.

Using dill (Anethum graveolens L.) as a model herb, we revealnovel associations between metabolite profile and sensory quality, by integrating non-target metabolomics with sensory data. Low night temperatures and exposure to UV-enriched light was used to modulate plant metabolism, thereby improving sensory quality. Plant age is a crucial factor associated with accumulation of dill ether and α-phellandrene, volatile compounds associated with dill flavour. However, sensory analysis showed that neither of these compounds has any strong association with dill taste. Rather, amino acids alanine, phenylalanine, glutamic acid, valine, and leucine increased in samples exposed to eustress and were positively associated with dill and sour taste. Increases in amino acids and organic acids changed the taste from lemon/grass to a more bitter/pungent dill-related taste. Our approach reveals a novel approach to establish links between effects of eustressors on sensory quality, and may be applicable to a broad range of crops.

Greenhouse horticulture is in its broad definition the production of plant products within, under or sheltered by structures that provide protection against biotic and/or abiotic stress. In greenhouses, horticultural crops can grow protected from infectious agents and adverse weather conditions, allowing off-season, year-round production. However, greenhouse production often comes with a trade-off, which is a skewed light environment with a lack of UV light. 

In some instances, the blockage of UV by greenhouse glass and plastic covers is beneficial from a commercial perspective, especially on tropical latitudes where plants can often encounter higher UV levels, which may impair plant growth and nutrient absorption (Krause et al. 1999; Verdaguer et al. 2017). On the other hand, reduced UV inside greenhouses may reduce the synthesis of metabolites associated with crop protection against biotic and abiotic stress, such as flavonoids, terpenoids and alkaloids (Yang et al. 2018). This reduction in the amount of protective compounds may not be seen as an important limitation in a protected environment, but these metabolic changes caused by reduced UV exposure may in fact negatively impact on product quality. For example, it is possible to improve of the aroma and taste of greenhouse tomato by exposing plants to low levels of supplementary UV light (Dzakovich et al. 2016).

The aim of this paper is to visualize, communicate and understand the vocational knowledge of a waiters craft, including how to perform table-setting and serving. The underlying theoretical perspectives are Culinary Arts and Meal Science, Craft Science, and Time-Geography. Basic time-geographical concepts used in the study are project, log, notation and constraint. The empirical data consist of two postulated serving methods wherein different procedures are identified. The data are based on the first author’s vocational experience and are described by logs of procedures. Questions in the logs concerning capacity, coupling, or authority constraints indicate limits to what is possible. Additionally, one of the serving methods is shown by a notation, displaying the waiter’s and the guests’ actions in relation to the procedures. The notation, complemented with a drawing of the room, provides knowledge about when, where, and for how long a serving procedure lasts. Through the use of time-geographical tools, the waiter’s craft procedures can be described and interpreted. Thus, it became possible to visualize, communicate, and acquire a deeper understanding of how the waiter in her vocational craft predicts and masters how time and materiality together with spatiality affect a meal event.

In 2010, the project MER was funded be The Knowledge (KK) foundation. Lars Eriksson, associate professor in applied aestetics and creative events at Grythytte Academy Örebro University, initiated the project MER which focuses on the way people move and interact in the environment around the meal.

This project has conducted a number of studies about the meeting between utensils, food and the guest in motion, creating the culinary experience. The poster presents a summary of a provocative method applied in all of the different studies.

Preparing, planning and serving meals require several important steps before you can enjoy a meal. The meal takes place in a room (room), where the consumer meets waiters and other consumers (meeting), and where dishes and drinks (products) are served. Backstage there are several rules, laws and economic and management resources (management control system) that are needed to make the meal possible and make the experience an entirety as a meal (entirety – expressing an atmosphere). These five factors are the major ones for developing meal service in restaurants, and together form the Five Aspects Meal Model (FAMM). Several studies have shown that the context of a meal is important for the acceptance and consumption of a meal. Accordingly, the context has to include the food product itself, the consumer and the environment. These three factors need to be considered in an integrated manner, because they affect each other. A qualitative study of restaurant consumers found that there are at least eight main categories of importance for the experience of the meal: restaurant atmosphere, core items of consumption, restaurant scene, personal service encounter, staff quality, visitors, restaurant decision process and individual circumstances. These categories can easily be related to the 'Five Aspects Meal Model'. The essence of each factor is dependent upon different forms of knowledge, such as science, practical-productive, aesthetical and ethical.

Learning how to evaluate and communicate sensory experiences is crucial in the training of sommeliers and other restaurant personnel. Established sensory training methods are focused on analytical training when evaluating sensory experiences. Analogical methods, however, use analogies, metaphors and practical examples to describe and evaluate sensory experiences. This study aim to investigate whether practical analogical training in Dialogue seminars, involving reflection, verbalization and the exploration of concepts, could be used as an educational complement to analytical training. The result, when evaluating Dialogue seminar (DS) with the repertory grid method (RGM), was an increased consistency in the assessments of wine within a group of sommeliers. The content analysis also showed an increased use of familiar concepts and multi-sensational at- tributes after analogical training. It is therefore concluded that analogical training with DS, followed by ana- lytical evaluation with RGM, can be successfully combined when training sommeliers.

Practical applications: This empirical framework introduces a new pedagogical tool when training restaurant personnel. Using contextual reflective tasting exercises in groups stimulates the awareness of personal references that can be helpful in developing a vocabulary of common definitions for sensory attributes. In addition to being a pedagogical tool, these exercises offer a counterpart to the well-established consensus technique when training sensory panels or performing sensory profile evaluation. It is, therefore, also concluded that this methodological approach can be used to better evaluate and communicate complex sensory experiences within a tasting group.

The pilot study reported here involved empirically investigating how analogical training, involving reflective wine- and spirit-tasting sessions and the reading of classic literature, affected the ability of sommeliers and chefs to holistically communicate complex sensory experiences. Analogical training occurred in dialogue seminars, during which participants' progress in communicating sensory experiences was examined following diverse methods of descriptive sensory analysis and, later, by analysing the use of analogies, metaphors and practical examples in tasting contexts. Among the results, dialogue seminars with analogical and reflective tasting exercises stimulated the participants’ ability to associate and apply personal keywords and experiences in making more precise sensory assessments. By exploring personal memories during sensory experiences, participants found commonalities that allowed them to develop a common language during dialogue seminars. Such findings suggest that dialogue seminars, by allowing participants to examine and share their experiences with and reflections on complex sensory experiences with reference to tasting activities, can afford intellectual space for discovering tacit knowledge and practical skills within groups of professional tasters.

Det svenska restaurangköket med fräscha råvaror och smarta tillagningsmetoder har utvecklat en framgångsrik matkultur. Intresset för ny teknik är stort bland kockar och bland restaurangägare. Restauranghjögskolan i Grythyttan har vetenskapligt studera olika tillagningsmetoder för svensk ryggbiff. Delar av undersökningen "Smaken är biff" presenteras här. Hela undersökningen finns på www.oru.se/rhs

Eating and sharing meals are essential parts of everyday life and expressed through tradition and culture. This everyday expression of who we are is argued to be taken away from us during hospitalization. Few studies have qualitatively explored hospitalized older patients experiences with their mealtimes. This is a perspective that could increase the understanding of how to provide enhanced dining experiences during time of illness for this malnutrition prune age group. The study objective was therefore to explore older patients’ (> 65 years) mealtime experiences during hospital stay with an emphasis towards the social interactions taking place before, during and after their meals. Eleven semi structured interviews were conducted and analysed through the lens of hospitality and the dramaturgical theory outlined by Goffman. The preliminary results indicate that the patients experience hospitality through materiality (e.g. the menu), commensality (with fellow patients and staff) an d individuality (the possibility to make own meal choices) but also inhospitality through conformity (not expressing their wishes or conforming to the situation) and locality (e.g. being lonely in ther oom). The patients are seen to reinforce the role of the non-complaining patient as well as not being a burden. The understanding of these kinds of role making and role taking by the patients is important to recognize within healthcare to be able to ensure that the mealtime and the meal service is provided with a person- centered approach together with the recognition that hospitality can bring fourth the practical doings in how to perform during meal service.

In order to understand the provision of meals to older patients in hospitals, the notion of hospitality is interesting. Previous research has found that even if adequate nutrition is provided the food served to the patients is not always consumed (Agarwal et al. 2013). Therefore, it is essential to also highlight aspects related to how and where the meals areserved, as well as the interaction between the staff and the patients.

The overall aim of this study was to explore how nursing staff and meal-hosts approached the mealtime for older patients and what aspects impacted on how the meals were served to the patients.

Method: Twenty mealtimes was observed across four wards within two hospitals in Sweden that had nursing staff serving meals on wards with a dayroom (2 wards) and meal-host serving meals on the wards with a dining room (2 wards). The objectives of the observations was to observe how the staff served the meals to the patients with as special focus on the hospitality approaches provided and the overall dining area. The Five Aspect Meal Model (Gustafsson, Öström, Johansson & Mossberg, 2006; Edwards & Gustafsson, 2008) and the notion of hospitality (Lashley, 2000; Telfer, 2000) serves as main frameworks. Moreover, Goffman’s dramaturgical theory (Goffman, 2014) is used to understand the scenery observed during the mealtimes.

Preliminary findings: Two overall themes were identified in the initial analyses, 1) atmosphere in the dining area; 2) and serving style and hospitality approaches.

The overall atmosphere differed between the two dining areas which impacted on how the patients were approached during mealtimes. The observations disclosed several encounters were the atmosphere in the dining area in the wards with meal-hosts serving were perceived as a regular restaurant with patients approached and asked what they would like to eat and drink in relation to the menu that was available. It was also observed in several occasions that the meal-host sat down next to the patients and helped the patients to choose a dish from the menu, asking if they were satisfied with the meal or if they needed anything else. The meal-host constant presence in the dining room contributed to a positive atmosphere as well as opportunities for the patients to get direct assistance. In the wards with nursing staff serving the food in the dayroom the patients were not as frequently out for lunch or dinner and several observations disclosed that no patients were taken to dine outside the own room. However, when the patients were out the hospitality approaches differed. Most often the patients were nicely talked and attended to in the moment of providing the meal tray and when the tray was taken away. However, the time between service and closing of the meal the patients was most often left unattended for. The atmosphere was most often sensed as “heavy” and silent. It was observed that the nursing staff not always thought of turning the lights on in the dayroom contributing to a less positive atmosphere. The staff was observed to just passing by the dayroom without visiting the dayroom to ask if the meal was of satisfaction or overall seeing the patients.

The serving style and hospitality approaches differed in some aspects between meal-hosts and nursing staff at the observed wards. The nursing staff was observed on all wards, including the wards with meal-host serving the meals, to be more hands-on and talking closer with the patients, which also disclosed different caring roles during mealtimes. If patients wanted anything else, a hand was often seen to be touched upon the patient or confirmed the wish by talking near and close to the patient. The meal-host was observed to both display a near service style with taking orders by sitting next to the patient or squatting to be on the same level as the patient, and, in some occasions, take orders as in restaurants with the help of a note pad standing next to the table.

Conclusion: The preliminary findings of this study indicate that a constant presence of a meal-host or nursing staff would be beneficial for both the overall atmosphere in the dining area as well as for patients getting timely assistance. However, further analyses are needed to fully understand and report the findings of this study.

The increasing age of populations throughout the world means that healthcare services are faced with new challenges, not least regarding the provision of food during hospital stay. There is a lack of knowledge of how hospital mealtimes are experienced by older patients, and so the aim of this article was to review current knowledge regarding mealtimes in hospitals from the perspectives of older patients. A literature search was performed using seven databases: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Sociological Abstracts, SweMed+, ASSIA and CINAHL with no limits regarding publication date. The inclusion criteria were peer‐reviewed articles in English or Swedish that used qualitative methods to examine older patients’ (>65 years) mealtime experiences. The Five Aspect Meal Model (FAMM) served as a framework for understanding the complexity behind a mealtime experience. Qualitative content analysis was used as a guide when analysing the material. The search produced 415 studies, 14 of which were included in the review. The findings generated three main themes for understanding how older patients experience mealtimes while in hospital: (1) the food and the food service, (2) mealtime assistance and commensality during mealtimes and (3) the importance of retaining one’s independence. The review also clearly indicated a shortage of studies that solely focus on older patients’ experiences of their mealtime. More research is therefore needed to be fully able to understand the complex task of providing meals in hospitals.

Hospitality is a social phenomenon expressing relationships between a host and a guest. This relationship can be seen in its most extreme form within a hospital setting, where the guest is a patient staying within an establishment where the core activity is not to provide the patient with food and drinks but to treat medical conditions. The aim of this study is therefore to explore how hospitality was performed by nursing staff and meal hosts in the dining room environments at four hospital wards and to explore the specific role of the room and its artefacts in facilitating or hindering acts of hospitality. In total, twenty non-participating observations were conducted across four wards within two Swedish hospitals. The dramaturgical theory proposed by Goffman was used as theoretical lens. Field notes were analysed in accordance with qualitative content analyses and yielded two overarching themes: (1) Hospitality and hospitableness through acts of caring and (2) The dining room environment’s potential to promote or hinder acts of hospitality. The findings suggest that the dining room environment facilitated timely service for the patients when the materiality within the room followed the principles of mise en place and included the constant presence of a staff member. This is seen as an important finding in relation to what needs to be addressed when planning hospital dining room environments and to the patients’ ability to consume a meal within a frame that acknowledges and assists the patients during their meals.

For the sake of both the environment and human health, it is necessary to reduce meat consumption. However, increased consumer adoption of plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs) will only occur when such products are attractive. PBMAs with meat-like sensory attributes and those that can be cooked similarly to meat are known to be preferred, but the preference for meat-likeness varies depending on the consumer's attitude towards meat. This study determined the relationship between consumers' level of meat attachment (MA) on their sensory perceptions of and preference for commercial PBMAs, and their drivers of liking. MA was measured by the Meat Attachment Questionnaire (MAQ); consumers with either low or high MA (LMA and HMA, respectively) were invited to participate in the study (n = 99). The sensory characteristics of seven PBMAs were evaluated using a rate-all-that-apply (RATA) questionnaire, along with an ideal profile and product hedonics. Consumers with LMA had significantly higher overall, aroma, and taste liking, compared with consumers with HMA. Both LMA and HMA consumers similarly discriminated among the sensory properties of PBMAs and the ideal profile. Nevertheless, a further adapted penalty analysis showed subtle differences in consumers' penalisation of sensory attributes depending on MA level. These findings could be used for future research and the development of PBMAs based on consumers' MA; they could also be extended for application in a meal context where the PBMAs are consumed.

The aim of this study is to formulate an olfactory description for refined linseed oils, for paintmaking purposes, in order to redevelop and articulate material and craft knowledge relevant to cultural heritage. By using the repertory grid method, common in food and beverage sensory consumer analysis, different types of refined linseed oils available on professional market are examined regarding odor qualities by traditional Swedish architectural painting professionals (32 working or studying painters and paintmakers). With semantic analysis, statistical processing, and principal component analysis, an olfactory description is defined. The analysis reveal that the odor qualities of the linseed oils can be correlated to the types of linseed oils and hence their heating temperatures. Raw, heated, high-temperature boiled, and vacuum-boiled linseed oils can be verbally distinguished by typical odor qualities ranging from for instance mild and grassy to pungent and decaying. The olfactory description will be used in further work for sensory examinations, combined with natural sciences and craft sciences to verbalize experiences of linseed oil with different film-forming characteristics in order to regain lost knowledge concerning linseed oil (anticorrosive) paints for maintenance and conservation of historic buildings and constructions. Practical applications An olfactory description enables traditional architectural painting professionals to judge and discuss linseed oil qualities in traditional architectural painting and paintmaking, for redeveloping tangible and intangible craft skills. Sensory analysis methods access new tools for cultural heritage studies and enables craft persons to train their attention to odors as rapid quality indicators for different types of oils for various outdoor building or iron/steel construction painting purposes.

In Sweden school meals are served to pupils and teachers at elementary and high schools. School meals are often criticized by pupils, teachers and parents in public media.  Similarly, both policy decisions and budget allocated to this aspect of social program receive much media coverage.

 Perceived quality is seen as a problem and dietary managers experience a lack of confidence. Entrepreneurs and producers of school meals also express difficulties in communicating school meal quality and value to teachers and students. Subsequently, the aim of this paper is to examine the factors that affect:

• The perception of school meals,
• The interaction and strength of relationship between teachers, students and kitchen staff and their effect on the acceptance of school feeding.

To identify key factors that might influence the parties’ satisfaction with school lunches provided and consumed, a questionnaire was developed. Statements related to kitchen staff engagement, company during lunches, interior design and food satisfaction were included. The questionnaire was modified to fit the particular roles of teachers and kitchen staff. A total of 207 questionnaires were completed, with 149 students, 43 teachers and 15 kitchen staffs.

The results indicated that:

• students and teachers did not think kitchen staffs had an inviting approach to meal service while kitchen staffs thought the contrary
• students revealed that neither kitchen staffs nor teachers invited them to sensory experience
• the three groups were all satisfied with the eating environment at schools
• the presence and actions of peers, teachers and kitchens staff did not affect the perception of the meals

The ideal cheese and wine combination might be relativelysubjective, depending on personal preference, context factors,previous knowledge and experience of food and wine. The aim ofthis study was to (I) explore consumer liking for wine and cheesepairs; to (II) explore whether either wine or cheese dominates acombination and to (III) understand the relationship betweenconsumer liking and the dynamic taste experience. Consumertesting was performed in a restaurant setting where 45 consumersevaluated liking and dominance of combinations of cheese andwine as a part of a conference lunch. In a laboratory, TemporalDominance of Sensation (TDS) was used to analyse the dynamicresponses of five wines andRoquefort Sociététasted in a mixedtasting. Results show significant differences between the wines fordominance and liking for the wines and cheese. A sweet andfruity dessert wine together with the cheese scored high for likingand no dominance was indicated of either wine or cheese. TDS isfound to be a useful method to provide additional informationabout sensory attributes that give a high liking score, showing thedynamic in the eating process.

Sauces play an important role in the sensory perception of meals. The combination of sauce and other foods in a meal might cause sensory interactions which change sensory attributes and the overall impression of the meal. The main aim of this study was to investigate the effects of culinary sauces, with different levels and combinations of the basic tastes, on the sensory attributes of salmon using mixed tasting technique. Seventeen different combinations of salmon and culinary sauces were evaluated by a trained panel at Nofima using descriptive analysis. The samples were analyzed in this sequence; first the salmon, then the sauce and finally the combination of salmon and sauce. Significant changes were found in salmon for all combinations, most importantly; bitter, acid and salty sauces significantly reduced salmon flavor, while salty sauce also reduced fish-oil flavor. Bitter, acid and salty sauces significantly increased the attribute complexity and bitter sauce reduced the attribute harmony. This study can be seen as a model for product development combining experimental design and sensory analysis with culinary knowledge. Results may be applied for tailoring fish meals for specific consumer segments. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A common belief is that when butter is added to food, a more desired flavour develops and that other flavours are enhanced. The aim of this study was to investigate how different amounts of added butter affected the perceived sensory characteristics of tomato sauce and chicken velouté using sensory analysis. In addition, a preference test was performed for tomato sauce. As more butter was added, the intensity of butter flavour and the viscosity increased, and the other flavour, aroma and taste attributes tested were perceived as being less intense in varying magnitudes. No significant difference was obtained in the preference study, except liking of the appearance among the men who preferred the sauce containing less butter. The results show that a large amount of butter is not always essential, unless it is the flavour and aroma of butter itself that is sought, or if it is necessary to balance the flavour, taste and texture attributes. These results could have a positive health effect for consumers if the use of fat in restaurant kitchens is reduced.

Dietary behaviour can modify the risks for coronary heart disease (CHD). Dietary fat contributes to the sensory characteristics of many foods, but there are individual differences in liking for regular and reduced fat products. Preference for dietary fat might differ between healthy individuals and those of diagnosed CHD status. Preference for full-fat versus low-fat foods was assessed in a group suffering from CHD (N = 24) and a healthy control group (N = 41). Preferences were evaluated using a series of paired preference tests including 34 food pairs. Further, patterns across fat preference and a range of known risk factors for CHD were examined. The study was conducted in Sweden; March 2004 until May 2006. Overall the full-fat food items were preferred to the low-fat alternatives by both patients and control participants. The pattern of preference responses diverged significantly between patients and controls on only four of the 34 food items, in both directions, why preference related to total fat content per se is not confirmed as differentiating significantly between a group diagnosed with CHD compared to a healthy control group.

Healthy diet interventions have been shown to improve depressive symptoms, but there is a need for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that are double blind and investigate biological mechanisms. The primary objectives of this randomized controlled pilot trial were to test the palatability of the meals and the acceptability of the intervention in preparation for an 8-week RCT in the future, which will investigate whether a healthy Nordic diet improves depressive symptoms in individuals with major depressive disorder, and associated biological mechanisms. Depressed (n = 10) and non-depressed (n = 6) women and men were randomized to receive either a healthy Nordic diet (ND) or a control diet (CD) for 8 days. Participants were blinded to their diet allocation and the study hypotheses. Health questionnaires were completed before and after the intervention and, throughout the study, questionnaires assessed participants’ liking for the meals, their sensory properties, adherence, and open-ended feedback. In the ND group, 75% of participants consumed only the provided foods, as instructed, compared to 50% of CD participants. The meals of both diets, on average, received good ratings for liking and sensory properties, though the ND ratings were somewhat higher. Overall, results were positive and informative, indicating that the planned RCT will be feasible and well-accepted, with some proposed modifications

In an earlier study, we concluded that pellet-fed reindeer could not elongate 18:3n - 3 (-linolenic acid - ALA) sufficiently towards long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC PUFA) and need supplementation of LC PUFA. The present work investigated that the addition of n - 3 LC PUFA to feed in combination with ALA would increase the LC PUFA in the meat. Two groups of reindeer were fed pellets containing either linseed cake or linseed cake combined with algae (Nannochloropsis oculata) for 6 weeks before slaughter. Dietary n - 6/n - 3 ratio had a distinct influence on meat fatty acid (FA) composition when comparing linseed and linseed algae-fed animals with animals fed a conventional diet. Increased dietary proportions of ALA and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) increased these FA in muscle and docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) and docosahexaenoic acid in the polar lipid fraction compared to the conventional-fed animals. We concluded that an increased proportion of dietary EPA might lead to an increased elongation towards DPA in muscle. Algae and linseed are possible additives to reindeer feed in order to assure a similar valuable FA composition as in pasturing animals.

By combining different methods and theories from sensory analysis and consumer behaviour, we investigated consumer choice of food products in a grocery retail store according to different sensory marketing cues across three observational experiments. Depending on the specific experiment in which they participated, consumers made their choice based on visual appearance, taste, and price; or descriptive labels, taste, and price. When presented with the opportunity to taste the products and examine their prices, the consumers were less likely to change their minds after making their initial choice if this choice was made on the basis of sensory description labels. Consumers were less price sensitive when sensory description labels were used. Our results reveal some practical implications for how to use a sensory language for food products as a marketing tool, and how to combine the research disciplines of sensory analysis and consumer behaviour.

Purpose - This observational study set out to investigate the effect of sensory description labels on consumer choice of apples in a grocery retail store.

Design/methodology/approach - An independent observation study was conducted in a retail grocery store setting. A total of 1623 consumers were observed over a four day period in four different sessions, each using three apple varieties (JONAGOLD, INGRID MARIE, and ELISE). Marketing strategies differed between the sessions as follows: (1) sort name labelling only, (2) sort name and sensory description labelling, (3) sort name and sensory semantic description labelling, and (4) sort name labelling and allowing consumers to taste the apples before choosing.

Findings - Consumer product choice was affected by the sensory description labels. When only the sort name was given on the label, the consumers tended to choose INGRID MARIE, which has a strong sort name. With the addition of sensory description labels, the consumer choice shifted to ELISE, which had been chosen with a low frequency when only sort name was given, but was chosen with a high frequency when sensory description labelling was used.

Research limitations/implications - The study was limited to red apples and one national market.

Practical implications - Practitioners, managers, and marketers may benefit from using proper sensory labelling as a marketing tool for various food products, such as a apples, in a grocery retail store.

Originality/value - This study shows the importance and value of sensory description label marketing for food products in grocery retail stores. Little attention has previously been paid to the research area within sensory marketing communication concerning the interplay of sensory perception of food and the formulation of marketing labels, or taste marketing. This paper also addresses the possible interaction between the disciplines of sensory and marketing science

This study (1) examines the sensory attributes of a large group of red apples and compares consumer perceptions of them with those of a trained sensory panel; and (2) uses a sensory semantic frame classification to analyze the vocabulary used. Descriptive analysis was carried out with the trained panel, while a simplified version of the repertory grid method was used for one-to-one interviews with consumers. The perceptions expressed by the consumers correlated quite well with the terminology used by the trained panel, and the two groups used many identical words when describing the apples' texture, flavor and taste according to partial least squares regression. A sensory semantic frame was constructed based on the vocabulary used by the two groups. The combination of sensory and semantic analysis could be one way of extracting valuable words for use in contexts such as product description for marketing purposes in retail stores.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify, portray and analyse the frequent drivers of customer service experiences as described by customers in their own words – the voice of the customer.

Design/methodology/approach: A critical incident technique study was conducted, based on 122 interviews, including 195 favourable and unfavourable narratives, about customer experiences. The data were analysed in an inductive manner and the results are presented by means of extracts from the narratives.

Findings: The findings describe the dimensions of drivers of customers' favourable and unfavourable experiences and the frequent drivers, the social interaction, the core service and the physical context.

Research limitations/implications: Customer experiences are processes and include dynamic interactions and the customer as a co-producer. The study context is limited to the restaurant setting and Swedish customers.

Practical implications: For managers the results suggest that great effort needs to be put into understanding the process of customer experiences and the various interactions involved, especially social interactions and the crucial roles of contact employees and customers involved in these interactions.

Originality/value: The paper provides a detailed description and analysis of the frequent and less frequent drivers of favourable, and unfavourable customer experiences – the constellation of drivers. The findings are illustrated by extracts from customer narratives and show how experiences occur and that experiences are processes occurring in a social and physical environment when people do things together. Furthermore, the paper introduces customer experience to service dominant logic by describing the dynamics of resource interactions in customer experience formation.