Experiencing the Taste Satisfaction of Food

Written by Michelle Shelton

November 11, 2022

My family went to Disney World a couple weeks ago. After waking up early and spending 5 hours on a plane, we took a shuttle to the hotel, took a minute to refresh, and headed to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. We were tired, hungry, and excited for a fun night ahead.

First order of business once we arrived was dinner. We were all hungry after a long day of traveling. What I didn’t know about Disney’s Halloween party was that most of the restaurants close down and become trick or treat stations. Our food options were narrowing quickly as the park transitioned to party mode. 

We decided on hot dogs for our 3 young boys. Not my favorite option, but hot dogs are a treat to them because I rarely buy them. They were excited. I went to pick them up and, in true carnival fashion, the hot dogs were enormous. Easily the size of two full hot dogs in one. Great, I thought to myself, starting our vacation with sick tummies. 

My boys were dazzled by the size and couldn’t wait to dig in. About half way through, my 8 year old turned to me and said, “I’ve noticed that sometimes when I’m eating a food, it stops tasting as good as it did at first.” He observed that he had reached that point with the hot dog, and he was done. No sick tummy. I was amazed at his attunement to his body wisdom. He had noticed something that I hadn't been consciously aware of until my twenties!  

As we eat a food, our enjoyment, satisfaction, and desire for that food declines. Researchers call this sensory-specific satiety. Our subjective liking for a food decreases as we eat it. This is as true for broccoli and spaghetti as it is for cookies and chips and yes, even bacon. 

Over the coming week, try to bring attunement to your own hedonic experience of the foods you eat. Notice the taste pleasure of a food when you just begin eating it. Rate it on a scale of 1 to 10. Pause as you continue to eat it, maybe half way through, and rate it again. Notice how your taste satisfaction continues as you continue to eat. 

When the food stops tasting as good as it did at first, consider stopping. Come back to it again when you are hungry again. It will still be there and you will enjoy it more.