By Jennifer Outcelt, Creative Content Architect
The old “Make me a sandwich!” demand is often associated with a ne’er-do-well man demanding immediate sustenance from their submissive partner from the comfort of their couch. Normally I wouldn’t have a syllables worth of agreement with the ideals of these entitled individuals… but I have to admit, there just might be something to this whole sandwich thing.
Hear me out. What was the best sandwich you ever tasted? Did you make it? I think not! Unless you are some master Chef with the hoity-toitiest of sandwich recipes, I highly doubt a bread-meat-bread combo of your own design was responsible for your most memorable taste bud explosion.
Why is this? We want to be self-sufficient adults, able to make our own meals, but why does it taste so much darn better when someone else makes you that sandwich? Well don’t feel bad.
It’s science, baby!
In the last few years there has been research done to figure out why food is more delicious when others make it for you (apparently there was nothing more important to study). It has to do with the phycological concept of “pre-consumption”.
When making a sandwich, you are seeing all the ingredients, smelling the savory ham and tangy Dijon, and touching the spongy sourdough texture. All this stimulus constructs a sort of “mental sandwich” that you have already started to consume, telling your brain that you’ve been eating this sandwich the whole time you were making it. So, when you sit down to actually engage your teeth for mastication, it’s less satisfying because you’ve ruined your apatite on that darn “mental sandwich”!
When SOMEONE ELSE makes that sandwich for you, they are the ones eating that “mental sandwich”, not you. So when the sandwich conveniently appears before you, it’s a fresh, new, vibrant, and satisfying experience.
Just extrapolate the whole sandwich concept to the entirety of know cuisine. All things being equal, anything made for you will somehow taste better. And which the holidays right around the corner, aren’t you excited to eat all that food you didn’t make?
Check out this cool article that explores these concepts and offers tips to enhance your own cooking, just in case you don’t have a personal chef at your beck and call.
https://betterfood.co/why-does-food-taste-better-when-someone-else-makes-it/
