Are you a chip n dip, or chocolate-type person? Or do you feel the need to make every home-cooked meal spicy?
The answers to those questions may reveal clues about your personality.
Taste, texture and satiety are all inextricably linked to the pleasure centers in our brains – which we’re finding out more and more with the rollout of Ozempic.
Several scientific studies have investigated the personality traits associated with different snacks and other foods, and found surprising associations.
Impulsive people crave salt
Salty snacks like pretzels and potato chips are associated with being impulsive
If you crave salty foods like pretzels, potato chips or peanuts, you might be an impulsive sort of person who seeks out new experiences.
That’s the good news – the bad news is that people with this ‘novelty seeking’ personality trait can also be prone to taking risks and losing their temper.
Research in 2008 suggested that people with a taste for salty foods were likely to be ‘novelty seekers’.
The researchers questioned 150 participants about their food preferences, and asked them to do a standard personality test.
The researchers wrote: ‘Interesting relationships were revealed in terms of temperamental personality and taste preferences.
‘For example, participants high in novelty seeking showed strong preference for salty tastes.’
Spice fiends and meat lovers lovers are fun to be around
A preference for spicy foods might mean that you have a thrill-seeking personality.
Thrillseekers tend to go for spicy snacks
Interestingly, the same goes if you’re attracted to meaty snacks, according to the Japanese study.
The 1988 study saw 105 students undergo a food quiz and a personality quiz.
The researchers found ‘significant and positive correlations’ between people who liked spicy foods, meats and alcoholic beverages, and high scores on the Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS).
There were also correlations with thrill-seeking, adventure-seeking and experience-seeking, the researchers found.
Sweet over salty? You’re probably insecure
People who crave chocolate and sweet-tasting things tend to seek approval from others, for example depending on the approval of a social group.
People who crave chocolate tend to be more reward-dependent
Known as ‘reward dependence’, this is sometimes linked with depressive disorders and addiction.
More optimistically for chocolate fans, people who like chocolate (as well as coffee and tea) are often adventurous, 2006 research found.
People who are ‘sensation seeking’ tend to consume more products such as coffee, tea and chocolate (as well as having a higher caffeine intake).
If you snack on fruit you’re an open book
People who snack on fruit and vegetables rather than fast or processed foods tend to be more ‘open’ to new experiences, according to 2017 research.
People who are open tend to be imaginative, creative and insightful.
Do you tend to opt for fruit snacks?
People who score highly for openness ate 4.5 servings of combined fruit and vegetables per week.
Study author Professor Tamlin Conner of the University of Otago said, “It’s likely that people who are open to new experiences and crave variety extend those same attitudes toward food, their personality may make them more eager to try new fruits and veggies, or brave enough to keep experimenting with ones they don’t initially like.”
If you like Biltong, jerky or other unusual snacks
If you’re an adventurous eater who can’t resist testing weird or unusual snacks (or you’re the guy who always eats ‘that’ weird item on the starter menu), you might tend to be more health-conscious than average.
Snacking on biltong could mean you are more healthy
Do you crave jerky?
Research in 2015 found that people who seek out novelty (known as ‘neophiles’) tend to have a health-focused outlook on life.
They also tend to be keener on cooking foods associated with their own heritage.
Interestingly, people who are food ‘neophiles’ are also likely to have lower body-mass index (BMI).
If you like very dark chocolate or sprouts
If you like bitter snacks like dark chocolate, cranberries or coffee beans, you might be a psychopath, science has shown.
An affinity for bitter flavors is linked to so-called ‘dark triad’ personality traits which include self-obsessed narcissists, scheming Machiavellians and amoral psychopaths.
Do you crave very dark chocolate?
A study conducted by psychologists at Austria’s Innsbruck University found a connection between a penchant for bitter-tasting foods and drinks, such as coffee, and certain negative personality traits.
The findings suggest that individuals who favor bitter flavors are more likely to exhibit narcissistic, sadistic, and manipulative tendencies, as well as a willingness to cause harm to others.
The research team conducted interviews with a total of 1,000 participants, including both university students and individuals serving time in prison. T
According to the researchers, this study provides ‘the first empirical evidence that bitter taste preferences are linked to malevolent personality traits’.
The researchers wrote, ‘General bitter taste preferences emerged as a robust predictor for Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism and everyday sadism.’
