Different tastes have different effects on how we feel and behave, according to scientists.
If you eat something bitter, for instance, it can make you more hostile, judgmental and prone to making stereotypes. That’s according to Dr. Nancy Dess, a psychology professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles. She’s spent years studying the relationship between taste and emotion.
Dess does most of her research on rats bred to have specific taste preferences. She believes the patterns in the rodents’ behaviour are “deeply rooted in evolution” and have been shown to manifest themselves in humans as well.
So what does that mean for you? Well, for starters it could help you craft a menu for your dinner party.
“If you wanted to arrange a get-together for people that were strangers, or they were at odds or from different political parties where there might be a certain amount of tension” you could try to use food in a strategic way to steer the conversation in a positive direction, Dress suggested.
She advised serving something sweet during potentially awkward social situations.
“It doesn’t just have to be dessert,” she added. “It can be a main course.”
WATCH: Recipes on the sweeter side
Her research has shown her a couple other interesting behavioural tidbits associated with those who prefer sweets.
Sweets are believed to make people feel more romantic, as well. Dess believes they can increase forgiveness too.
On the other side of the spectrum are those who gravitate toward bitter foods (like black coffee, beer, tonic water, lemon, radishes, and celery). She believes that group might be more likely to be affected by a slight disruption in their daily schedule (like skipping breakfast, for instance). They’re often “more vigilant to what’s different, new, and risky.”
And they tend to acquiesce to the typically more dominant sugar lovers. A preference for bitter-tasting foods has even been linked to antisocial and psychopathic tendencies.
On the plus side, those who fall into this group could be less likely to get hooked on a drug.
READ MORE: Signs of a psychopath: do you yawn when others do?
Research suggests those with a sweet tooth may be more compulsive, based on the fact that rats which prefer the sugary stuff can drink their body weight of sweet liquid over the course of a day. Another study showed they self-administered more cocaine than their sugar-adverse counterparts.
READ MORE: Do you know how much sugar you’re eating? A look at sugar by the numbers
Or maybe it’s just that the sweet stuff is addictive, Dess admitted (a chicken or egg conundrum).
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