Why we often think healthy food doesn't taste good: On the origins of illusions and unfavorable beliefs about food

There is a widespread belief that unhealthy food tastes better than healthy food, which can lead to people often choosing the unhealthy food options. As a result, this "unhealthy=tasty" belief contributes to unhealthy diets and likely plays a role in the development of diseases in many countries. However, the persistence of the "unhealthy=tasty" belief is surprising, given the availability of many healthy yet tasty food alternatives and food industry's increasing focus on moving towards healthier food alternatives. Previous research on dietary beliefs has mainly focused on the influence of unhealthy food communication and parental behavior. We argue that the strong dominance of unhealthy but tasty foods can also lead to dietary illusions that are inconsistent with one's own taste experiences and are artificially maintained by a reward-rich dietary context. In a series of experimental and field studies we investigate the formation and maintenance of dietary illusions.

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