Food Sharing and Consumption in an Unstructured Eating Environment

Abstract

Research has shown that eating behaviors can be affected by other factors than simply the human physiological need for certain nutrients or the feeling of hunger, and situational factors can have a significant effect on humans’ eating behaviors. For instance, humans can experience as many as 22 different emotions with food, whether they are consuming it or simply being around it. In return, these emotions can lead people to eat when they aren’t hungry. This is why it is useful to look at situational factors outside of human physiology and hunger when considering people’s eating. This study examined food consumption in social groups in an unstructured eating environment, the Minnesota State Fair, and tested a brief intervention aimed at encouraging fairgoers to share food with their companions, so that they might try more foods at the fair without consuming more calories. Participants were asked to fill out a survey on an iPad that asked about how many people they attended the fair with that day, which foods they ate, and what percentage of those foods were shared with others. They were also exposed to either a public service announcement (PSA) explaining the benefits of sharing food (treatment) or a PSA about sunscreen use (control). The sharing PSA did not lead to increased sharing, and no differences were found between participants exposed to the control and treatment PSA’s, except that contrary to our predictions, the control PSA increased general sharing intentions after the fair was over. It was also found that participants who shared food with their group ate significantly more foods than participants who did not share food with their group. While further research is needed, the results showed that participants who shared foods with their social groups ended up trying more types of food at the MN State Fair.