The Order Has Been Decided and Reopened
A person decides what to eat and then spends the time before ordering reconsidering the decision in full.
Field Notes: Menu Rereading in Controlled Conditions
Observation 1. Subject arrived at the table and opened the menu. Subject announced, within ninety seconds, that they would be having the pasta. Subject had the pasta last time and the time before that. The decision was, functionally, already made when the subject sat down.
Observation 2. The menu was not closed. The menu was placed face-up on the table and returned to at irregular intervals over the following nine minutes. During this period the subject appeared to be reconsidering the pasta.
Subject was not reconsidering the pasta.
Observation 3. Subject asked whether the fish was good. This is a question the subject asks at restaurants that have fish on the menu. The question has never materially changed the subject's order.
Observation 4. Under the governing rule, once menu rereading begins, appetite may not override the ritual until the ritual has completed. The ritual completed when a server arrived. At that point the pasta was ordered with the confidence of someone who had never considered anything else.
Observation 5. The meal itself was consumed without ceremony. No field notes required.
Observation 6. The ritual gains exceptions, timing rules, and a preferred method defended from memory. The subject will describe this restaurant as one where the pasta is good. When pressed, the subject cannot confirm having tried anything else.
Status: Appetite is not the variable. It never was.