Where should human eating be studied and what should be measured?

Meiselman's (1992) proposal for redirection of research on human eating behavior towards eating in real settings is misdirected, because it does not take into consideration the questions being addressed by laboratory studies. In fact many of the studies for which he has called have in fact been done and will be cited. There is no compelling scientific or strategic reason that investigators who are making good progress on the problem of what controls the amount eaten should be exhorted to examine what controls the place or time of eating or what is selected for eating. They are different problems which require different methodology. The field is large enough for both kinds of studies and there is no reason to berate investigators as Meiselman does for not investigating the problem he happens to be studying.