Stolen chips really do taste better, study confirms,
The next time your friend offers you a chip, it could be worth waiting until they’ve turned away before nicking one off their plate.
That’s because a stolen French fry really does taste better, a new study reveals.
Experts have found that chips are rated as crispier, saltier and more delicious when covertly taken from another person’s portion.
And the more daring the pinch, the better the taste.
‘This study provides robust empirical validation for the folk adage that ‘stolen food tastes better’,’ the researchers wrote in the journal Food Quality and Preference.
‘Fries taken covertly… were rated markedly superior to those obtained legitimately or through generosity.
‘Across covert–taking trials, guilt was positively associated with enjoyment.’
This phenomenon, which they refer to as the ‘forbidden fruit’ effect, demonstrates how doing something naughty can enhance feelings of pleasure – despite the added guilt.
Analysis revealed that the ‘stolen’ food was consistently ranked as tastier, and this effect increased with risk
For the study, 120 participants were each given the same French fries to eat in four different contexts.
These included being given their own portion of chips, being offered chips from a fellow diner, or being told to pinch fries from someone else.
In the pinch scenario, they were instructed to take the fries covertly both in a relaxed setting, where the risk of being caught was low, or in a high–risk scenario where a stern–looking stranger was present.
Immediately after consuming the fries, participants were asked to rank their experience in terms of taste intensity, pleasantness, saltiness, crispiness and their emotional state.
Analysis revealed that the ‘stolen’ food was consistently ranked as tastier, and this effect increased with risk.
The high–risk stolen chips were rated as being nearly 40 per cent more enjoyable compared to those served directly to the participants.
Nearly half of participants gave a maximum enjoyment rating to the chips pilfered in the ‘high–risk’ context.
Around a third of those in the ‘low–risk’ context gave the maximum rating, while none did in the ‘gifted’ or ‘legitimate scenarios.
Nearly half of participants gave a maximum enjoyment rating of 9 to the chips pilfered in the ‘high–risk’ context.
Chips were rated as crispier, saltier and more delicious when covertly taken from another person’s portion
The team, from the Russian Medical Academy of Continuous Professional Education in Moscow, said their findings indicate that scarcity can make things more desirable.
Meanwhile, the guilt that comes with stealing can also amplify feelings of desire and enjoyment.
‘The inferior ratings of gifted fries compared to stolen ones – despite identical physical properties – suggests that perceived social risk, rather than mere novelty or positive social interaction, is the active ingredient in hedonic amplification,’ they wrote.
‘The stolen fry emerges as an improbable exemplar of how human reward circuitry converts social risk into sensory poetry – one covert bite at a time.’
The researchers cautioned that their study does have some limitations, as the ‘thefts’ were staged under controlled conditions with no real risk of punishment.
In the real world, however, theft can lead to reputational damage or even legal punishment – which may dampen the enjoyment affect.
Researchers have previously revealed the ‘perfect chip’ is exactly 7cm long and 1.2cm wide, fried in rapeseed oil and made using Russet potatoes.
Meanwhile, a Harvard Professor caused outrage after claiming a healthy portion of fries should only contain six chips.
The guilt that comes with stealing can also amplify feelings of desire and enjoyment, the researchers said
The scientific formula for the perfect chip involves three stages of cooking: once in water, once in cooler oil, and once in hot oil
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Professor Eric Rimm, of Harvard University’s nutrition department, said chips are ‘starch bombs’ and half a dozen should be our limit.
After that we should sate our appetite with salad if we want to avoid life–threatening heart conditions, he argued.
His advice was partly based on a study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by Italian researchers, who found people who avoided fries altogether lived six months longer than those who indulged.
People who ate fries two or three times a week had higher risks of diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.
