IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/jfrjnl/v15y2026i1p65.html

Conversing with Others While Eating a School Lunch Affects Eating Enjoyment and Extends the Meal Time

Author

Listed:
  • Tomoko Osera
  • Moe Naito
  • Yukiko Segawa
  • Saki Maruyama
  • Hiroko Hashimoto
  • Nobutaka Kurihara

Abstract

This study sought to investigate whether eating conditions affected the consumption and deliciousness of food. A total of 16 healthy university students were recruited and ate two types of meals (each with 770 kcal) similar to that provided in school lunches under two conditions (e.g., talking vs. silence while eating with group members) in a cross-over design. The amount of food left by the participants and the time needed to finish eating were measured. After eating, participants evaluated the deliciousness and enjoyment of each meal using a visual analog scale. Notably, no significant differences in the eating rate and palatability were observed between the four conditions. However, significant differences in enjoyment and feeding time were observed. These findings highlights the importance of ensuring that sufficient time with other people is spent when eating to realize the benefits of eating in a group.

Suggested Citation

  • Tomoko Osera & Moe Naito & Yukiko Segawa & Saki Maruyama & Hiroko Hashimoto & Nobutaka Kurihara, 2026. "Conversing with Others While Eating a School Lunch Affects Eating Enjoyment and Extends the Meal Time," Journal of Food Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 15(1), pages 1-65, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:jfrjnl:v:15:y:2026:i:1:p:65
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jfr/article/download/0/0/52658/57363
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jfr/article/view/0/52658
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibn:jfrjnl:v:15:y:2026:i:1:p:65. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.