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We examined the perception of hedonic attributes (flavor, texture, appearance, color, and size) to describe food likeness (FL) and acceptability (FA) of meals among 191 elders (mean age=77y): 50 Chinese (CH), 54 Africa-Americans (AA), 50 Whites (WH) and 37 Hispanics (HI), all participants of a home delivered meals program in Massachusetts. We also assessed diet quality with summary scores based on macro- and micronutrient intakes. Significantly less AAs and CHs accepted the flavor (56% in both groups; P<0.001) and the texture (59% & 60%; P<0.001) of the delivered meals, compared to WHs (90% in both attributes). FL and FA were both associated with ethnicity but not with diet quality. Flavor was the only attribute associated with FL (P<0.05). Study subjects based their evaluation of meals in cultural factors and food attributes but not on the quality of their diets. Flavor, in particular, should be treated as an important factor when designing food programs for the elderly, as this attribute is directly associated with improvements in food intakes of frail elders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]