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Why Humans Like Junk Food: The Inside Story on Why You Like Your Favorite Foods, the Cuisine Secrets of Top Chefs, and How to Improve Your Own Cooking Without a Recipe!
Our major drive to eat centers around pleasure. But withoutunderstanding the nature of food pleasure and perception, we can'tmake useful modifications to food. Why Humans Like Junk Pleasure Explainedexplores, for the first time, thephysiological basis for "food pleasure" and why these cravings occur.Author Steven Witherly chronicles how chefs and food scientistsmake our favorite foods taste irresistible. He also simplifies andoutlines the various food-related pleasure principles through the useof general observations, aphorisms, and theories. Witherly shares thereasons why we like everything from gourmet coffee to Southern friedchicken, culinary secrets of the top chefs, and the eight biggestcooking mistakes amateurs make. Without even opening a cookbook,Witherly can show you how to use ingredients that will add the mostpleasure to your culinary experience.For the everyday cook, dietician, food scientist, or professional chef,this revolutionary guide can help you improve your cooking byexplaining the physiological power of great-tasting food!
- GenresNonfictionScience
310 pages, Paperback
First published June 11, 2007
6 people are currently reading
133 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 23, 2015
Why do so many of us have the misconception that healthy stuff has to taste terrible while junk food typically seems to taste so totally awesome? Just like most everything else, the answer is buried inside our incredible brains.
I first discovered this book in a fascinating HuffPost article on why we crave junk food. The article refers to, among other things, a concept called "vanishing caloric density", or the rapid meltdown of food that gives your brain the impression that it’s still hungry, even after you’ve packed away half a party bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
The two excellent books referred to in the article, "Salt Sugar Fat" and "Why Humans Like Junk Food", expound on the ideas that pleasurable foods are intentionally engineered by food companies to induce cravings, which in turn increases their profit, which in turn encourages us to overeat, which in turn gets us discouraged about our weight and overall health, which in turn makes us reach for even more comfort food. It’s pretty sobering stuff, and helps explain why our country has the highest obesity rate in the world. Here’s the takeaway in a nutshell:
Our nutrition is being manipulated to boost the bottom line of giant food corporations that continue to crank out cheap, processed, calorie-laden crap for the sole purpose of making money.
It’s all about the Almighty Dollar, as my mom used to say. And our incredible brains.
I first discovered this book in a fascinating HuffPost article on why we crave junk food. The article refers to, among other things, a concept called "vanishing caloric density", or the rapid meltdown of food that gives your brain the impression that it’s still hungry, even after you’ve packed away half a party bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
The two excellent books referred to in the article, "Salt Sugar Fat" and "Why Humans Like Junk Food", expound on the ideas that pleasurable foods are intentionally engineered by food companies to induce cravings, which in turn increases their profit, which in turn encourages us to overeat, which in turn gets us discouraged about our weight and overall health, which in turn makes us reach for even more comfort food. It’s pretty sobering stuff, and helps explain why our country has the highest obesity rate in the world. Here’s the takeaway in a nutshell:
Our nutrition is being manipulated to boost the bottom line of giant food corporations that continue to crank out cheap, processed, calorie-laden crap for the sole purpose of making money.
It’s all about the Almighty Dollar, as my mom used to say. And our incredible brains.
August 7, 2022
It explains why I find it super difficult to completely get rid of pizza, chocolate and Doritos.
Main takeaways
1. Food pleasure = sensation (e.g., salty, sweet, umami tastes) + caloric stimulation (high-calorie density foods are preferred by the brain)
2. Marginal utility of food: the more of the same food we eat, the less saliva we generate (want it less);
Humans like food variety
3. The brain has a craving for Dynamic Contrast, which evokes the brain to release endorphins; Same for sweet foods
4. The foods that vanish quickly in the mouth, e.g., ice cream, chocolate, salty creamy popcorn, are likely to be overeaten unconsciously
Main takeaways
1. Food pleasure = sensation (e.g., salty, sweet, umami tastes) + caloric stimulation (high-calorie density foods are preferred by the brain)
2. Marginal utility of food: the more of the same food we eat, the less saliva we generate (want it less);
Humans like food variety
3. The brain has a craving for Dynamic Contrast, which evokes the brain to release endorphins; Same for sweet foods
4. The foods that vanish quickly in the mouth, e.g., ice cream, chocolate, salty creamy popcorn, are likely to be overeaten unconsciously
May 23, 2025
Detailed and tedious in a nice way. Gives name to and explanation of flavors, textures, and similar phenomena that you (I) already know instinctually but don't actually understand. Here's hoping my ever so slightly deepened understanding will give me power to resist the dark arts of marketing and food science.
July 15, 2015
really good overview of food chemistry in easy approachable writings
September 8, 2016
Dated, but still interesting.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews