Everybody eats, but most people don’t eat everything. Even if someone says they eat everything, you’ll often find they avoid something — spinach, or organ meats, or insects, or smelly cheese.
We’re going to take a look at what types of food preferences people have — what people eat, and don’t eat, and why.
There are three main types of reason why people select foods: Physical, psychological, and philosophical.
Physical and medical reasons for choosing foods
People make food selections based on what they believe to be good for their health. People with health issues might follow eating recommendations from specialists, and someone allergic to peanuts will be very cautious to make sure they don’t eat something that will bring out an allergic reaction that might kill them.
Psychological reasons for food choices
Sometimes you just don’t like something. Maybe a food is slimy, or bitter, or at some point in your past you got sick after eating it. People who choose and avoid foods for psychological reasons don’t have a logical, or even conscious, reason for these choices, but they make them anyway.
Philosophical food choices
Many religions prescribe foods that people may and may not eat. Also, some people make food choices based on morals, such as not wanting to harm living creatures or the environment.
Multiple reasons
There are also many situations when a food choice doesn’t neatly fit into any of these categories. A person might be vegetarian partly because they don’t want to harm animals, and partly because they think it’s a more healthy diet. Someone on a weight loss diet may be doing it partly for health reasons but also partly because they don’t want to be seen as overweight, which is more of a psychological reason.
Next we’ll look at each of these in more detail.
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