Is there really any truth to the suggestion that there is a meaningful link between your personality and your taste preferences? The famous phrase “you are what you eat” originated in 1825 by the French gastronome, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, who wrote ''Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es'' which translates to “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.”
Decades later, research suggests there are, in fact, neuroscience-based explanations for the link between personality and taste/flavor preferences. It is important to stress that the connection has more to do with the taste-buds and the mouthfeel elements of tasting food, such as the burn of a chile pepper, than with the olfactory contributions to flavor. While there are some important individual differences in terms of our ability to smell the many different scents that contribute to flavor, genetic differences have yet to be linked directly to characteristic personality traits. By contrast, researchers have established a number of robust links between personality characteristics and our preferences for, and sensitivity to, basic tastes such as sweet, bitter, salty, sour, and umami.
In a recent article, Spence (2022) reviewed the current research on personality and food preferences, uncovering several things that our tastes may reveal about our personality.
Based on this research, if you like…
Bitter food, you may be a bitter person and may have greater levels of antisocial or psychopathic traits. A study surveyed 953 Americans and found that after controlling for preferences for sweet, sour, and salty tastes, preferences for bitter food predicted antisocial traits, specifically psychopathy, aggression and sadism, or experiencing pleasure from other people’s pain in everyday life. This preference goes against our biological instincts, as bitterness often indicates toxicity, which suggests that bitter preferences might be learned. For instance, people who are more psychopathic may enjoy bitter foods due to the unpleasantness that the food causes others. Additionally, eating bitter food has been found in past studies to cause hostility and was even negatively associated with agreeableness.
Sweet food, you may be a sweetheart. In direct contrast with bitter preferences, preferences for sweetness are associated with greater prosociality. Eating sweet food can cause us to be more agreeable and helpful. As a society, we tend to further stereotype those who have a sweet tooth, labeling them as kind. The researchers point out that sweetness is universally comforting and rewarding, and that we often call our loved ones sweet nicknames such as “sweetheart,” “sweetie pie,” and “honey bun.”
Spicy food, potentially dangerous foods (such as alcohol or shellfish) or caffeine, you may be greater in sensation-seeking and salivary testosterone, as there is something thrilling about pushing oneself to the limit. Across many cultures, men are more likely to be pushed to such extremes when it comes to spiciness. A laboratory study of 114 men found that those with greater salivary testosterone used more tabasco on their food. Similarly, another study of 303 participants found through questionnaires that people who prefer potentially dangerous food or beverages, including alcohol and shellfish, were higher in sensation-seeking scores.
Bland food, or food less likely to make you sick, you may be lower in sensation-seeking. Unsurprisingly, the same study found that people who prefer bland, or “safe” foods, or food that is less likely to make us sick, such as bread and rice, were lower in sensation-seeking.
Fewer foods, you may be more anxious, as picky eating reflects anxious personalities. A study of college students found that more anxious individuals had a greater number of food aversions, perhaps due to a lack of “emotional control.” Additionally, picky eaters may also be supertasters, or people who have more taste buds and thus experience flavors at a greater intensity, causing them to restrict the variety of food they consume.
Overall, these findings indicate the importance of personality in our food preferences. The evidence published to date supports a number of intriguing connections between personality traits and taste perception/food behavior. At the same time, however, making specific food preferences linked to particular personality traits is made all the more difficult by the variety of different measurement tools that have been used to assess personality traits over the decades and the fact that the foods that are popular/unusual has also changed over the decades and also varies as a function of culture. Similarly, there are some gaps in research. Studies should continue to examine whether these relationships are consistent across cultures, as culture shapes our food preferences. Furthermore, most of these studies focus on taste, whereas our preferences for texture may also reflect our personalities.
-Haley Dee