It is not just a meal, it is an emotional experience – A segmentation of older persons based on the emotions that they associate with mealtimes

Older adults, mealtime-related emotions, and functionalities : tailoring protein-enriched meals

“…A better understanding of this age-specific variation in valence and arousal of selfreported food-evoked emotions may be relevant for R&D and communication strategies. The more so, as in a previous study the mealtime expectations of specific older consumer segments varied along the two dimensions valence and arousal (den Uijl et al, 2014). For example, whereas some segments regarded mealtimes as 'satisfying' and 'calm' (i.e.…”

“…Some data for these participants, focusing on mealtimeevoked emotions, have been published before (den Uijl et al, 2014). …”

“…For the current segmentation study, we re-analysed the mealtime functionality data from our previous online survey (den Uijl et al, 2014). The latter study consisted of three questionnaires, of which one focused on mealtime functionality.…”

“…It seems plausible that this emotional dominance even extends to food choice and product perception, given the importance of emotions in food choice and product experience . With an eye on the need for tailored and emotionally meaningful products for seniors (den Uijl, Jager, de Graaf, Waddell, & Kremer, 2014;, it seems essential to fully understand the features of seniors' food-evoked emotions.…”

“…This guidance seems to be important with an eye on the increasing need for tailored and emotionally meaningful products for seniors (den Uijl, Jager, de Graaf, Waddell, & Kremer, 2014). For example, whereas younger adults associated mint chocolate with the high arousal emotions such as 'disgusted' and 'wild', older adults associated this product more with the low arousal emotions 'pleasant', 'mild', and 'satisfied'.…”