“Hey, Mikey likes it!”
Remember the popular television advertisement for breakfast cereal
in which even Mikey, a notoriously picky eater, wolfs down a bowlful?
UBC researchers have confirmed what the makers of that cereal wanted
us to believe–just because a food is good for you, it doesn’t have
to taste bad.
Former UBC graduate student Patricia Fitzpatrick, and Asst. Prof.
Gwen Chapman and Prof. Susan Barr from UBC’s School of Family and
Nutritional Sciences, recently
published the results of a survey on low fat menu items and customer
satisfaction.
Nine Vancouver restaurants participated in the survey during which
customers were asked to rate their satisfaction following a regular
or low fat meal.
The results, based on a rating of 1,127 menu items, suggest that
customers were
significantly more satisfied with low fat than with regular menu
items.
The researchers conclude that customers’ high satisfaction with
low fat menu items suggests they will support restaurants providing
healthy choices.
These findings should encourage restaurants to include low fat
choices on their menus, researchers say, and assure customers that
their expectations of being indulged when eating out are not incompatible
with low fat choices.
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