CONSUMER PREFERENCES FOR VISUALLY PRESENTED MEALS HANS HENRIK REISFELT 1,4 , GORM GABRIELSEN 2 , MARGIT DALL AASLYNG 3 , MARIA SCHMIDT BJERRE 1 and PER MØLLER 1 1 Department of Food Science Faculty of Life Sciences University of Copenhagen Rolighedsvej 30, 1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark 2 Copenhagen Business School (CBS) Solbjerg Plads 3, Frederiksberg, Denmark 3 Danish Meat Research Institute (DMRI) Maglegaardsvej 2, Roskilde, Denmark Accepted for Publication May 21, 2008 ABSTRACT The aim of the study was to investigate consumers’ preferences for variations of a visually presented meal. The study was conducted in three middle-sized Danish towns, including 768 respondents who were presented with a computerized questionnaire that initially displayed four consecutive series of photos. The series each consisted of eight unique photos of random- ized food dishes arranged around the center square in a 3 ¥ 3 array. Five meal components, each with two levels, were investigated. One level of each com- ponent was used for each photo, in total 2 5 = 32 combinations. The respondents were asked to select the meal they preferred the most, the second most and the least, respectively. Significant interactions were found between meal components and background variables such as, gender, age, geographic variables, purchase store and level of education. The current procedure can be applied to help solve a number of problems involving consumer choices. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS This study outlines an approach to use visual images for investigations of food. Our results suggest that rather complex food stimuli of great similarity 4 Corresponding author. TEL: +45-35-33-31-73; FAX: +45-35-33-35-09; EMAIL: hhr@life.ku.dk DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-459X.2008.00202.x Journal of Sensory Studies 24 (2009) 182–203. © 2009, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 182