May We Suggest: Restaurant Menus and the Art of Persuasion

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

• An exploration of all aspects of the menu and how it affects every part of the restaurant and dining experience
• Geared toward the average restaurant consumer
• Not an industry how-to manual: firsthand fieldwork combined with first-person narrative makes this a first-of-its kind look at an everyday item
• Author visited more than 60 different restaurants, from fast food to high-end, doing in-depth research including restaurateur interviews
• Authors personal experience is threaded throughout and transforms a would-be technical topic into an accessible, general-interest narrative
• Potential for course adoption in higher education
• A general-interest topic exploration that touches on behavioral science, design, marketing, advertising, hospitality, language, and much more
• Will appeal to the kinds of readers who embraced recent bestsellers like The Design of Everyday Things and Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America

Reviews

Advance praise for Alison Pearlmans May We Suggest:

This is a dangerous bookfor your waistline, your wallet, and your sense of reason. . . . Call this a tasting menu of foodie heavenly history. Paco Underhill, author, Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping

An effective and engaging discovery of the mechanisms that, in more or less subtle ways, orchestrate our experiences when we eat out. A great tool to understand how restaurants work. Fabio Parasecoli, professor of food studies, New York University

Author Bio

Art historian and cultural critic Alison Pearlman looks at the design and marketing of restaurants to tell our social story. She is the author of Smart Casual: The Transformation of Gourmet Restaurant Style in America, and she blogs as The Eye in Dining. She teaches in the art department at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and lives in Los Angeles.