Before analyzing whether there is any requirement for eating festive meals on Chol HaMoed we must first look at the basis for the obligation to eat seudos on the days of Yom Tov.

The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 188:6) rules that a person who forgets to include yaaleh v’yavo in the Yom Tov bentsching must repeat bircas hamazon. This ruling indicates that there is an obligation on Yom Tov to have a seudah that includes bread. The source of this din is a gemara in Berachos (49b) where the Gemara rules that a person who forgets retzei or yaaleh v’yavo of Shabbos and Yom Tov must repeat bircas hamazon while the omission of yaaleh v’yavo on Rosh Chodesh does not require one to repeat bircas hamazon The Gemara explains that the distinction between the two cases is due to the fact that on Shabbos and Yom Tov one has an obligation to eat a seudah while on Rosh Chodesh there is no such obligation.

What is the basis of the obligation to have seudos on Shabbos and Yom Tov? Rambam (Hilchos Shabbos 30:7) indicates that the chiyuv to have seudos on Shabbos is part of the mitzvah of oneg Shabbos. The source of the obligation to have meals on Yom Tov however is less clear. Rav Akiva Eiger (Teshuvos sec. 1) understands that there is a mitzvah of oneg Yom Tov that parallels the requirement of oneg Shabbos. This is considered a time-dependent mitzvah (mitzvas aseh shehazman grama) from which women are exempt and Rav Akiva Eiger therefore rules that a woman who accidentally omits yaaleh v’yavo from the Yom Tov bentsching need not repeat it. (This same ruling however would not apply to the bircas hamazon of Shabbos. Even though the mitzvos of Shabbos are also time-related mitzvos women are obligated in all the positive commandments of Shabbos due to the Torah’s link between the mitzvos of zachor and shamor. This applies to the requirement to have three meals on Shabbos as well.)

In an addendum to this teshuvah Rabbi Akiva Eiger considers the possibility that women should be required to eat meals on Yom Tov due to the mitzvah of simchas Yom Tov which some authorities consider to be required for women despite its time-dependent character. He concludes however that even if women are obligated in the mitzvah of simchas Yom Tov it would at most prohibit them from fasting but would not generate a requirement to eat a seudah.