by Menghini
I'm trying to grasp what you exactely mean (or: what you want to make clear). Is it the fact that even if you spend 1 coin you get the same 6 VP as the player who spends 3 coins?If that's the case I understand why it's hard to explain. I must say I can't explain that easily myself to others, so I just play the game a few times and the others might 'understand' it for themselves.
The meal/inn VP's is a whole other dynamic than collecting souvenirs, onsens, etc. One thing is the money itself. The money alone doesn't give you VP's (unless you spend it in a temple). So collecting it isn't the way. It's about spending the money to get the most points for all coins spend (in total, not the point total per coin). So in your example I think that 10 coins for 27 points is better than 7 coins for 24 points regarding meals and inns. That 3 point difference might be the difference to be the most enlightened hiker.
And denying meals to other players is certainly also a way to get the gourmet bonus: you'll have a meal more than that other player. It is only one coin, but that can be enough if it's for example the last inn.
(for the sake of easiness: based on 2 players)
If it's for example in the fourth inn (third chance to get a meal) and the other player has two 2 coin meals and you have three 1 coin meals (you denied the other player his/her meal): you make sure that in the last stretch you have enough coins to buy a 3 coin meal at the last inn and you make sure that the other player doesn't get enough money to buy a 2 or a 3 coin meal at that last inn. That's 6 coins for 27 points and the other player has spend a maximum of 5 coins for 18 points. That's a huge difference in this game on the meals alone.