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You'll Spoil Your Dinner: Attenuating Hedonic Contrast In Meals Through Cuisine Mismatch, Jacob Lahne, Richard Pepino, Debra Zellner

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Previous research (Lahne & Zellner, 2015) has shown that hedonic contrast occurs in a multi-coursed meal such that good appetizers reduce the hedonic evaluation of an entrée. This paper extends that finding by examining whether hedonic contrast between courses served in a real restaurant meal can be attenuated or eliminated through a categorical mismatch of cuisine (Italian vs Thai). Subjects (N = 143) ate a meal in a University teaching restaurant in which the cuisine of the appetizer (soup) was manipulated so that it either matched (Italian minestrone) or did not match (Thai tom kha) the main course (Italian pasta …