What I'm Reading Now

Mindless Eating, by Brian Wansink.

Mark got me this for Mother's Day. It reminded us both of a book we read a few years back called Why We Buy by Paco Underhill. WWB shares the findings of a consulting firm that is hired to come into stores, study the shoppers, and make recommendations that will increase sales. It was fascinating.

Mindless Eating is very similar and equally fascinating. The author studies the eating habits of Americans in many, many different scenarios. They do things like go into movie theaters and give all ticket holders a free tub of popcorn just to see if they will eat it, and how much of it they eat. The catch? The popcorn is five days old and about as tasty as cardboard. But guess what? Everyone ate it. They acknowledged that it sucked, but they still ate it.

Most interesting to me is the studies done in a place called The Spice Box. Billed as a prix fix restaurant that is used for recipe testing, this place is actually an extension of the University of Illinois's food science department. They bring people in twice a week and feed them meals. The diners think they are tasting new recipes, but the powers that be are actually studying their eating habits.

On one evening, they give everyone the same brand of cheap, two-dollar wine. Half of the restaurant is told that it is a new label from California. The other half is told that it is a new label from North Dakota. Same wine, but the California people enjoyed their meal much more than the North Dakota people did, and the North Dakota people left early. On another evening, they have waiters describe the specials to half of the diners, and the other half simply reads the specials from their own menus. Then they determine who ate more and why. Stuff like this fascinates me.

The basic finding of the author is that people, by and large, can eat 20% more than they need to, or even want to, without even knowing it (hence the name, Mindless Eating). If people can eat 20% more without noticing, it stands to reason that they can eat 20% less without noticing. They key is figuring out why we eat more than we need to, and using that knowledge to our advantage.

So far, very, VERY interesting read.