What Are the Main Factors That Lead to Food Appeal?

THERE ARE MANY FACTORS THAT GIVE FOOD ITS LURING APPEAL. I will mention only three.  The first lure of food is its color and appearance. Colorful foods stand out as one of the most outstanding appeals to the visual senses. Let me share a short story of such an appeal. There was a woman in biblical history named Eve who curiously and contumaciously approached a specifically verboten fruit tree in the far distance of her land. As she beheld the fruit on the tree with its unusual and profound color, form, and appeal, an adroit seducer sitting in a nearby tree urged her to approach that enchanting tree and to eat of its fruit.  Her eyes beheld the intensely colored flesh of the fruit in its unusual shape and size. Thus, it is believed that the shape and color of the fruit was defining and visually pleasing to the eyes. Without prolonged reservation, the woman took the fruit into her clutched hand and yanked if from its branch, bit into its luscious tissue, and savored its delicious and delectable flavor.  

Today, that same sense of appeal lures many people to the point of eating and over eating foods without consideration to health, to restraint, nor to mental and bodily vigor it requires; increasing the possibility of various sicknesses, diseases, and even death.  The desire for the forbidden foods lead to intemperance and indulgences, toxicity and abnormal bodily processes.  With nutritional knowledge, right food choices, best methods of food preparation, exercise, plenty of fresh water, 20+ minutes of sunshine, temperance, fresh air, rest/adequate sleep, and trust in divine power, people are able to create a stable equilibrium in their physical and mental systems and become healthier, better satisfied, stronger, and maintain an increased level of vitality.  More people today are considering a lifestyle change that includes more vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains, and purified water, and less meats, processed foods, and dairy. Foods come in a variety of colors, rich in nutrients and phytochemicals, to enrich your health.

The second factor of food that makes it appealing is its attractiveness or appearance. If foods are esthetic in appearance, whether texture, form, size, or shape, and is more acceptable, most people will gravitate to it.  British researchers have revealed that a hormone called Leptin stimulates a sense of appetite as a result of appearance “When you go to the supermarket hungry, every food looks better,” said researcher Alain Dagher, a neurologist at McGill University in Montreal. “Infusion of ghrelin into healthy volunteers led to heightened activation of the brain’s reward centers in response to pictures of food, as captured by MRI.” “Ghrelin has widespread effects, not just on one or two brain regions, but the whole network,” said Dr. Dagher. “[After ghrelin infusion], food pictures become even more salient — people actually see them better. It influences not only visual processing, but also memory. People remembered the food pictures better when ghrelin was high.”Alain Dagher, M.D., of McGill University, and colleagues reported in the May issue of Cell Metabolism.  

The third factor that drives food choices is flavor.  Though many people from diverse cultural experiences with different foods from various regions of the world, there is this third factor that stimulate the sensory of the palate. Taste creates a sensory sensation that stimulates a connective response to smell, quality, and appearance of foods from pungent, spicy, decayed, fermented, to floral, sweet, and savory.  The olfactory neuron in a small area of the nasal cavity has an odor receptor that detects the microscopic food molecules around it sending messages to the brain which associates the smell to a particular food or foods. “In reality “taste” is the sum of all sensory stimulations that are produced by the ingestion of a food: not only taste per se but also smell, appearance, and texture of food.” (Food Choice – an overview | ScienceDirect Topics, https://www.sciencedirect.com)  Color, appearance, and flavor are three out of many other factors of food attraction that lures people to eat certain foods and its amounts.  

Other References:

“(Secret Found: What Makes Food Look Appealing https://livescience.com> 4925-secret-food-tasty, May 6, 2008).  How do you present dishes attractively? “When something looks so attractive, you kind of expect it to taste just as good. Food…”Making your food look so appealing that your guest salivate even before…” Slateplate https://www.slateplate.com>pages>food-presentations-…