I had heard about the Food and Brand Lab prior to the Café talk this week, but did not know much about their research. I was glad to have the opportunity to learn more about their research and was not disappointed by the discussion.

The talk about the Food and Brand Lab was interesting and somewhat disturbing. It was disturbing to learn how little thought we put into our food choices even though those choices have a major impact on our health. Since there are so many choices to make regarding food choices, people have to rely on convince and habit to deal with all the possible decisions.

I was very interested in the discussion of how “the best diet is the one that you don’t know you are on.” It was amazing to hear stories about how slightly altering the presentation or possible choices of food can change how people eat. For example, the researchers discussed an experiment about children eating carrots during lunch. One group of children were not given a choice of vegetable and were required to take carrots. The other group was given the choice of either carrots or celery. The group that was given the choice of carrots or celery mostly chose the carrots and consumed more of these carrots. This is an amazing example of how psychology can be used to get people to eat healthier foods without telling them that they must eat the healthier foods.

Another interesting example was the proposed large soda ban in New York City. The researchers suggested that this ban backfired because people do not like to be told what they can and can’t eat. According to their research, soda sales in the New York City area actually increased during the time that the soda ban was being debated.

The researchers also gave an example of putting large arrows on the floor of super market pointing to the produce in order to get people to buy more fruits and vegetables. I was amazed that such a simple idea could get people to eat healthier foods.b

The Food and Brand Lab was a great final Rose Scholars event for the semester!