Why a food grows less pleasant as it is eaten, while other foods stay appealing.
What the evidence says
- Sensory-specific satiety: as a particular food is eaten, its taste becomes less pleasant, while the taste of other foods remains relatively unchanged[1]
- Subjects ate significantly more when offered three yogurt flavours differing in taste, texture and colour than a single flavour (n = 24, p < 0.01), and ate a third more when offered sandwiches with four different fillings than with one (n = 36, p < 0.001)[1]
- In Rolls’s experiments the enhancement appeared only where foods differed on several sensory dimensions: three yogurt flavours differing in taste, texture and colour raised intake (n = 24, p < 0.01), while three differing in taste alone produced no enhancement (n = 24). That second result is a null, not a demonstrated requirement — it shows this manipulation at this size did not produce the effect, which is weaker than saying the variety effect requires multiple dimensions[1]
- When a food’s liking has fallen because it was eaten in a first course, relatively little of it is eaten in a second course, while intake of foods not yet eaten remains relatively high[1]