1
Unhealthy Food is Not Tastier for Everybody:
The “Healthy=Tasty” French Intuition
Carolina OBINO CORREA WERLE
Grenoble Ecole de Management, CERAG
[email protected]
Olivier TRENDEL
Grenoble Ecole de Management
[email protected]
Gauthier ARDITO
IAE Grenoble, UPMF
[email protected]
Astrid MALLARD
Grenoble Ecole de Management
[email protected]
Pauline NAT
Grenoble Ecole de Management
Pauline [email protected]
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Unhealthy Food is Not Tastier for Everybody:
The “Healthy=Tasty” French Intuition
Abstract
Previous research demonstrated that unhealthy and tasty foods are spontaneously
associated for American subjects (Raghunatan & al., 2006). There are significant
differences in food perceptions between French and Americans (Rozin 1999, Fischler
2008), our objective is to verify if such differences impact the French implicit
associations, taste evaluations and food consumption. Our first study demonstrates
that the opposite intuition exists in France: healthy is spontaneously associated with
tasty. Results indicate that level of dietary restraint and Body Mass Index (BMI) can
potentially explain these differences. There was a weaker association between healthy
and tasty foods for highly restrained eaters. Furthermore, we found a negative
correlation with BMI indicates that the higher the BMI the weaker the implicit
association between healthy and tasty. Our second study investigates how the
“healthy = tasty” French intuition influences taste perceptions. Results of an
experiment demonstrate that, in France, a neutral food when described as healthy is
considered tastier, more pleasurable and of better quality than when it is described as
unhealthy.
Key words: food, healthy, tasty, France, United States.
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Les aliments bons pour la santé ne sont pas meilleurs au goût pour tout le
monde : L’intuition : Bon pour la santé = Bon au goût
Résumé
Une recherche récente a démontré que les aliments mauvais pour la santé sont
implicitement associés à bon goût (Raghunatan & al. 2006). Or, il y a des différences
significatives entre français et américains dans la perception des aliments (Rozin
1999, Fischler and Masson 2008). Notre objectif est de vérifier si les associations
implicites des français sont différentes et si elles ont une influence sur leur évaluation
du goût et sur leur consommation alimentaire. Notre première étude démontre qu’une
intuition opposée existe en France : « bon pour la santé » est implicitement associé à
« bon au goût ». Par ailleurs, les résultats indiquent que le niveau de restriction
alimentaire et l’indice de masse corporelle (IMC) peuvent potentiellement expliquer
ces différences. En effet, il y a une plus faible association entre « bon pour la santé »
et « bon au goût » pour les personnes en forte restriction alimentaire. De plus, nous
avons trouvé une corrélation négative entre l’IMC et le temps de réponse du test
d’associations implicites (IAT) : plus l’IMC est élevé, mois l’association « bon pour
la santé » et « bon au goût » est forte. Notre deuxième étude a pour objectif de vérifier
dans quelle mesure l’intuition française « bon pour la santé »= « bon au goût »
influence la perception du goût. Les résultats d’une expérience montrent qu’en
France, un aliment neutre décrit comme « bon pour la santé » est considéré comme
meilleur au goût, apportant plus de plaisir et de meilleure qualité que quand le même
produit est décrit comme « mauvais pour la santé ».
Key words: alimentation, santé, gout, France, Etats-Unis.
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Unhealthy Food is Not Tastier for Everybody: The “Healthy=Tasty” French Intuition
Introduction
Obesity is a major predicament of the contemporary Western world. Today, 14.5% of
adults in France (Obepi, 2009) and 34% of them in the United States (Leavitt, 2008)
are obese. Even if some of the causes for obesity are linked to genetic pre-disposal
and metabolism, the increase in obesity rates is mostly due to changes in lifestyle
habits. Over the past century, life in most developed countries has evolved to become
increasingly comfortable and highly caloric food is largely and readily available.
Therefore, a large amount of research has been looking into the health consequences
of food consumption habits (e.g., Wansink, 2004). One recent research suggests that
one factor explaining the preference for highly caloric food is the “unhealthy=tasty”
intuition (Raghunathan & al., 2006): American consumers tend to overconsume foods
perceived as unhealthy because they spontaneously and sometimes unconsciously
consider that such food tastes better. Indeed, even American consumers that explicitly
report (i.e. in a questionnaire) that there is no link between level of food healthiness
and tastiness were actually found to implicitly believe in the “unhealthy=tasty”
association.
However, this assumption that unhealthy food tastes better may be only true for
American consumers though. Based on literature suggesting strong intercultural
differences in food perceptions (Rozin & al., 1999; Fischler & al., 2008), our
objective is to investigate whether this “unhealthy=tasty” intuition exists in France
and how it influences the food perceptions and eating behaviors.
We approach this question by first reviewing the literature on cultural differences of
food perceptions. We propose that food perceptions are strongly anchored on a
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cultural heritage, which varies across countries, especially when comparing France
and America. This food-related heritage explains the difference in food perceptions
and may lead to different explicit (i.e. self-reported) but more importantly also
implicit associations between healthiness and tastiness in France. Results from two
studies are consistent with this framework and provide new insights into the literature
about food perceptions.
1. Conceptual background
There are clear evidences that French (and other Latin cultures such as Italians) and
North Americans have very different relation and representation related to food
(Fischler and Masson 2008). Consider for instance what some have called, since
Dolnick’s (1999) article, the “French Paradox”: Frenchman eat relatively more
“unhealthy” foods (more butter, for instance) than Americans, yet have lower levels
of obesity and less heart disease problems. And, since then, researchers have been
trying to understand which factors could explain this paradox including the size of the
portions, meal duration (Rozin et al. 2003) and, more recently, the impact of
responsiveness to internal and external cues of satiation (Wansink, Payne, and
Chandon 2007).
Understanding the link between food heritage and pleasure in eating is an interesting
approach to understand food perceptions. Researchers have been trying to understand
the role of food in several countries and have shown that there is an important
difference between France and the USA (e.g., Rozin & al., 1999). We summarized
previous research in order to clearly indentify key differences between food
associations among these two countries. This literature review focuses on differences
established through adult life because previous research demonstrated that French and
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American children have at the beginning the same kind of food preferences (e.g.,
chocolate) and dislikes (e.g., vegetables; Fischler et Masson, 2008). Therefore,
differences established in adult life might be a consequence of different associations
with food existing in each country.
1.1.
USA: a Utilitarian View of Food Consumption
Americans have a very utilitarian view of foods and eating in general. They associate
food with a biological need and evaluate it from a nutritional and health point of view.
In terms of eating patterns, they tend to focus on high quantity and value for money
(Stearns, 1997). In this context, “eating well” is mainly related to finding a good
equilibrium in terms of nutriments (calories, carbohydrates, proteins, etc) and
demands some medical or nutritional knowledge (Fischler & Masson 2008). A study
analyzing family dynamics during meals revealed that American families focus on
food as nutrition, considered it as a material good, give low priority to food as
pleasure and stimulate food as reward (e.g., dessert as reward; Ochs et al. 1996).
A consequence of this utilitarian approach of eating is that Americans have a
somehow negative view of foods in general. In the USA, food is more a source of
worry than a source of pleasure. Food is considered as much a poison as it is a
nutrient, and eating is judged almost as dangerous as not eating (Rozin & al., 1999).
For example, American females feel guiltier about chocolate, and Americans are the
population who has the greater concern and the greater dissatisfaction in eating
(Rozin & al., 1999). They also have less gastronomic or culinary associations than
French people (Rozin & al., 1999).
In this context where food is perceived as utilitarian, food decisions are private and
personal, and consumers feel as they are alone to make these decisions. In an
environment where an enormous amount of information is available, Americans find
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it difficult to eat well and associate high levels of anxiety and dissatisfaction to eating
related decisions (i.e., a daily struggle to make the right decisions and control oneself;
Fischler and Masson 2008; Rozin et al. 1999).
The analysis of past evidence demonstrates that Americans consider foods in general
as mainly utilitarian and disconnected of the notion of pleasure. This could be one
potential explanation for the existence of an “unhealthy=tasty” intuition in America.
We will now review previous research on food perceptions in France, in order to
establish eventual differences between both countries.
1.2.
France: an Experiential Approach to Food Consumption
For French adults food is often associated with pleasure and considered as something
important in life (Rozin & al., 1999). When eating, French focus on pleasure, social
interaction, culinary issues, and quality (direct heritage from traditional eating). They
have a more experiential view of eating. In France the eating patterns emphasize
moderation and high quality (Stearns, 1997). To “eat well” (or “bien manger”,
Fischler and Masson 2008) is related with sensorial and social pleasure. Sensorial
pleasure is ensured through balance, variety and freshness (Fischler & Masson, 2008),
the main attributes, besides conviviality, of a “gastronomic meal” (i.e., an elaborated
meal that lasts more than one hour), a concept that 84% of French consider accessible
(Mathé & al., 2009). French focus more on the experience of eating and less on the
health consequences of eating (Rozin 2006).
When making food decisions French rely more on traditions, structured norms and
rules. They seem to have a more relaxed and “peaceful” relationship with food
consumption (Fischler and Masson 2008; Rozin et al. 1999).
A utilitarian and individual view of food seems to be dominant in America, while a
more hedonist perspective exists in France, where food is associated with pleasure
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and conviviality (Fischler and Masson 2008; Flandrin, 2007; Rozin 2005; Rozin et al.
1999; Rozin et al. 2006; Rozin et al. 2003). There are other important differences in
food habits between the USA and France, such as portion sizes (Rozin & al. 2003),
amount of time dedicated to eating (CREDOC, 2010), and importance of snacking in
the daily intake (CREDOC, 2010; Ipsos, 2009), but these are probably consequences
of the initial food perceptions existing in each country.
The hedonic aspect of food consumption in France lead us to believe that the
“unhealthy=tasty” intuition does not necessarily exists in this country. The American
context generates more “food-related stress” (Rozin & al., 1999, 2005) that, combined
with restrictions on the consumption of unhealthy food, could make them attractive
and justify the existence of an “unhealthy=tasty” intuition in America, but not in
France.
1.3.
The “unhealthy=tasty” intuition in France
Raghunathan et al. (2006) suggest that one factor that could explain food
overconsumption and, at the bottom line, obesity, is the “unhealthy = tasty” intuition.
According to Raghunathan & al. (2006), the “unhealthy=tasty” intuition was
generated internally and externally. The internal aspect of the intuition is due to its
consistency with a more general compensatory relationship between the
“wholesomeness” of a stimulus and its “hedonic potential”. The external sources of
the unhealthy=tasty intuition refer to repeated exposure to views that are compatible
with it (through the medias and the family).
Regarding the internal source, this compensatory mechanism does not seem to be so
present for Latin cultures : even if health is an important issue in all countries—Latin
and Anglo Saxons—studied by Fischler and Masson (2008), in Latin countries food is
conceived more in terms of taste, sharing, rituals and pleasure, and less in nutrition-
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medical terms. It seems that if a product is healthy it does not necessarily means that
it is not tasty (de-link of pleasure and health). Additionally, evidences suggest that
Americans tend to think (classify and categorize) about food more in terms of what is
right and what is wrong (healthy versus unhealthy, allowed versus forbidden). And, as
the forbidden is usually more desirable (see literature on thought suppression, for
instance: Erskine 2008; Wegner et al. 1987), the food that is “wrong” is considered to
be tastier. Conversely, as French consumers seem to have a different range of
associations to food (pleasure, social / sharing dimension, and also health), they
should not have such belief.
Regarding the external sources, the external environment in Latin countries does not
seem to reinforce the unhealthy=tasty intuition as much as the environment in the US.
In countries such as France or Italy, food consumption is usually associated to a social
and a pleasure dimension and the external environment plays a role in maintaining
such associations. For instance, Ochs et al. (1996) show, during meals, the Italian
families interactions focus on pleasure and taste, as opposed to American families,
where the authors observe a constant control on what kids are eating and not eating.
Moreover, mass media does not extensively oppose taste and healthiness, but instead,
frequently addresses issues related to pleasure of cooking and eating (see, for
instance, the news journal at 1:00 PM at TF1 – a main French TV channel - which
daily presents regional recipes: “les recettes du terroir”).
Yet, it is possible that a group of French consumers actually presents the same types
of associations and beliefs that American have. Based on some findings regarding
restrained eaters’ food perceptions and food consumption (Herman and Polivy 2003,
2004; King, Herman, and Polivy 1987), we suggest that French consumers that are
restrained eaters could actually share the American “unhealthy = tasty” intuition.
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King et al. (1987), for instance, show that restrained eaters tend to classify food in
terms of the guilt they could feel in consuming (“no guilt food”) or “allowed” versus
“forbidden” food compared unrestrained eaters. Additionally, restrained eaters usually
think about food mainly in terms of its contribution to weight gain or loss (neglecting
dimensions such as the social one, for instance). Moreover, as Herman and Polivy’s
(2004) work suggests, restrained eaters frequently fail to control themselves leading
to episodes of overeating, which are followed by redoubled efforts at caloric
restriction. The authors also point that restrained eaters are prone to compensatory
behavior (Herman and Polivy 2004). For these reasons, we propose that Frenchman
that are restrained eaters can potentially have the same utilitarian view of food as
Americans, and therefore score higher in the “unhealthy=tasty” intuition.
We conducted two studies to verify these propositions: the first study uses the Implicit
Association Test (IAT) to verify spontaneous (or automatic1) food memory
associations with tastiness and healthiness in France; the second one uses an
experimental design to verify how the French intuition influences taste perceptions
and amount consumed.
3. Study 1
We conducted a first study to verify whether the “unhealthy=tasty intuition” exists in
a French context and to identify potential explanations for the expected differences
between the two countries.
3.1. Methods
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The memory associations can be either conscious or unconscious. The term implicit in the name of
the task (IAT) tend to suggest that the memory associations assessed are unconscious when this is
clearly not necessarily so. Yet, the IAT enables to assess memory associations that are automatically
activated (i.e. that don’t require higher order processing).
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123 undergraduate students (mean age = 19.5 years old, 56% female) conducted an
IAT (a French version of the IAT used by Raghunatan et al., 2006). The IAT enables
to measure memory associations that are spontaneously activated and does not give
respondents the opportunity to process their answer. The IAT was presented as a
computerized categorization task, following the standard IAT procedure (Greenwald
et al. 1998). The IAT rests on the assumption that it should be easier to make the same
behavioral response (i.e., a key press) to concepts that are strongly associated than to
concepts that are weakly associated in memory. The IAT measures the ease or
difficulty with which a subject associates target concepts (in this case healthy and
unhealthy food) with attributes (in this case tasty versus untasty). In several trials,
participants are asked to categorize and re-categorize items belonging to the target
concepts or to the attribute dimensions along a pre-set classification scheme.
Association strength is measured by comparing the speed of categorizing items in two
different sorting conditions.
The IAT procedure has five blocks, with block 3 and 5 providing critical data. In
block 1, respondents learn to categorize items (e.g., pictures of healthy and unhealthy
food) representing the target concepts (i.e., “Healthy Food” versus “Unheatlhy
Food”). Categorizations are made using two keys that are mapped to the concept
categories (e.g., the “d” key for “Healthy food,” the “k” key for “Unhealthy food”)
and items appear sequentially in the middle of the computer screen. In block 2,
respondents learn to categorize items (e.g., delicious, flavorless) representing the
attribute dimensions (i.e., “Tasty” versus “Untasty”). In block 3, steps 1 and 2 are
combined such that respondents categorize items representing the first target concept
(e.g., pictures of healthy food) with items representing the first attribute dimension
(e.g., tasty words) and categorize items representing the second target concept (e.g.,
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picture of the unhealthy food) with items representing the second attribute dimension
(e.g., untasty words). In this case one key (‘”d”) is the correct response for two
categories (“Healthy food” and “Tasty”) and the other key (“k”) is the correct
response for the two other categories (“Unhealthy food” and “Untasty”). Respondents
first perform a block of 24 trials with these sorting rules (the “practice” block). After
a brief pause, they repeat it for a second block of 40 trials (the “test” block). Block 4
is identical to block 1 but this time the key assignment is reversed (e.g., the “d” key
for “Unhealthy food,” the “k” key for “Healthy food”). In block 5, respondents sort
items from both the attribute and target concept categories again, except that the
response key assignments now require unhealthy food and tasty items to be
categorized with one key and healthy food and untasty items to be categorized with
the other key, the opposite association from block 3. Respondents sorted items with
this response assignment for 24 trials and then again for 40 more trials.
Response latencies (i.e., response time) are recorded. The mean response latency of
block 3 and 5 is compared and provides a measure of the association strength between
each target concept and the attributes. To the extent that the first target concept (e.g.,
Healthy food) is perceived more untasty than the other (e.g., Unhealthy food), the
mean response latency should be faster (slower) when healthy food is paired with
untasty (tasty) terms (Greenwald et al. 1998). We thus used response latencies to
assess the direction of the intuition. The stimuli were inspired in the ones used by
Raghunathan & al. (2006) and were adapted to the French context.
After completing the IAT participants evaluated the tastiness of three versions of
chips (healthy, intermediate and unhealthy, adapted from Raghunatan et al., 2006).
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The healthiness level of the chips was manipulated through information about the
type of fat they contained. After reading a short scientific article describing the
healthy benefits of unsaturated fat and the health risks of saturated fat, participants
were asked to evaluate three versions of chips. All versions contained the same
amount of fat (13 grams) but the type of fat varied. The healthy chip had 11 grams of
unsaturated fat and 2 grams of saturated fat; the unhealthy one had 2 grams of
unsaturated fat and 11 grams of saturated fat; and the intermediate had the same
amount of both types of fat (6.5 grams). Participants were then asked to evaluate the
tastiness of each version of the chips. Finally, participants answered a questionnaire
with measures of their explicit belief in the “unhealthy=tasty intuition” (measured by
their level of agreement on 1-5 Likert scales with two items “Things that are good for
me rarely taste good,” and (2) “There is no way to make food healthier without
sacrificing taste” borrowed from Raghunathan et al. 2006), dietary restraint scale
(adapted from Herman and Polivy, 1980), weight and height to compute BMI, and
food perceptions.
3.2. Results
A paired samples t-test was conducted to compare the results of the IAT (i.e., the
response time for the categorization task in each situation) between the
“healthy=tasty” block and the “healthy=untasty” block . Results indicate that subjects
are faster in the categorization task when “healthy” and “tasty” are associated rather
than “healthy” and “untasty” (Response Time
Time
healthy=tasty
unhealthy=tasty
= 1419.78 ms; Response
= 1036.33 ms; D = 383.45; t=13.347; p=.000). Therefore, “healthy”
foods are implicitly associated with “tasty” in France.
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To analyse the explicitness of the belief that “healthy = untasty” we averaged the two
items into one single variable. Results indicate a mean of 2.28 (SD = .96). A onesample t-test indicates that this mean is statistically inferior to the mean point of the
scale (test value = 2.5; t = -2.410; p = .01) indicating that, on average, participants do
not agree with the belief that healthy foods are untasty. Interestingly, even when
analyzing the IAT results among participants that do believe that healthy foods are
untasty (explicitness of belief >= 3; n = 35), we found a stronger implicit association
for the “healthy=tasty” intuition in comparison with the “unhealthy=tasty” intuition
(Response Time unhealthy=tasty = 1386.44 ms; Response Time healthy=tasty = 1102.99 ms; D
= 283.48; t = 5.089; p = .000). This last result suggest that the “healthy=tasty”
intuition persists even when participants do explicitly believe the opposite (i.e.,
healthy foods are untasty).
A paired-samples t-test was conducted to verify tastiness differences between the
healthy and the unhealthy version of the chips. The results of the taste inference task
are consistent with the “healthy=tasty French intuition”: the inferred tastiness is
higher for the healthier chips version (MHealthier
version=5,77;
MUnhealthier
version=4,82;
t=8,926; p=,004).
An analysis of variance shows that there is a significant difference in the IAT results
depending on the level of dietary restraint. The strength of the association between
healthy and tasty is weaker for highly restrained eaters than for less restrained eaters
(M
High DR=
-,734; M
low DR=-,908;
t(92)=5,181; p=,025). Highly restrained eaters
associate less strongly what is healthy with tasty indicating a situation that is closer to
the original “unhealthy=tasty intuition” documented in the US. Furthermore, there is a
negative correlation between BMI and response time in the IAT: the lower the BMI
the stronger the association between healthy and tasty (r=-,194; p=,043). This result
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suggests that BMI could explain the differences between France and USA, because
French people that are high in BMI have a stronger association between unhealthy
and tasty food. Americans and especially women, impose themselves more eating
restrictions and have an average BMI higher than French (Rozin, Bauer and Catanese,
2003).
This study shows that the American “unhealthy=tasty” intuition does not exist in
France where the opposite intuition “healthy=tasty” prevails. Yet, the more people are
on a diet, the less healthy is associated with tasty, and this is especially the case for
restrained eaters. In the USA, the “unhealthy=tasty” intuition influences actual
enjoyment and foods perceived as less healthy are inferred to taste better. We wanted
to test if the French “healthy=tasty” intuition also influences taste and enjoyment
perceptions.
4. Study 2
The objective of this experiment is to test whether the “healthy= tasty” French
intuition influences taste perceptions of a neutral product. Using a product with the
same levels of healthiness and tastiness is important to have a true test of the intuition
effect because the product is not already considered more hedonic or utilitarian, the
only variation is due to the label that is manipulated. Following Raghunathan & al.
(2006), we propose to show that the portrayed healthiness of a neutral product affects
actual enjoyment and tastiness of the product. We suggest that in France a neutral
product when described as “healthy” receives better taste and pleasure evaluations
than when it is described as “unhealthy”. Such a finding would indicate that the
“healthy=tasty” intuition is used by participants when sampling different food varying
in perceived healthiness. Furthermore, we think that this intuition also influences the
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amount consumed and we hypothesize that participants will consume more of the
neutral product when it is described as healthy than when it is described as unhealthy.
4.1. Methods
One hundred and twenty one (121) participants (50,4% male, average age =
20,29 years) were randomly assigned to one of two conditions (neutral product with
healthy label, neutral product with unhealthy label). This experiment was carried out
in a business school in a mid-sized town in France. Participants enrolled in this study
in exchange of partial credit for a marketing course. To disguise the actual purpose of
the study, participants were informed that they were going to participate in an
evaluation of different snacks considered for a future event organized by the school.
The snacks were hidden and shown individually to each participant at the beginning
of the experiment. Participants had three minutes to: first, have a sip of water and
then, test each kind of snack (see figure 1). One snack (filler 1) was presented as
healthy (“dried slices of apples, generally considered as healthy”), another (filler 2) as
unhealthy (“chips, traditional recipe, generally considered as unhealthy”) and the
target snack was presented as “generally considered healthy” for half of our sample
and as “generally considered unhealthy” for the other half. It was important to have
filler products to avoid demand effects. The target snack was “milk-based fruit juice,
made with milk and concentrated orange and mango”, a product perceived to be
neutral in terms of healthiness in a pre-test. Participants were informed that they could
consume as much as they wish of the three products. Once the time was over,
participants were asked to complete a questionnaire about appreciation of the snacks
tested, eating habits, and general questions (such as age, weight, height, hour of the
last meal…).
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Figure 1. Snacks used in study 2 (target snack appears in the center and its label
changed across conditions)
4.2. Results
Results from an analysis of variance indicate that taste perceptions of the target
product (i.e., milk-based fruit juice) varied significantly across the two conditions, (F
(1,117) = 6.725, p = .01, η2 = 0.055). As hypothesized (see figure 2), perception of
tastiness of the milk-based fruit juice was higher among participants in the healthy
label condition (M = 5,54) compared to participants in the unhealthy label group (M =
4,77). The impact of variables that could influence taste perceptions such as hunger,
thirst, gender, BMI, dietary restraint, or the dislike of orange or mango were tested
but showed no effect and therefore are not discussed further.
Figure 2. Differences of taste perceptions across conditions
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The pleasure associated with the consumption of the milk-based fruit juice also varied
significantly across the two conditions (F (1,119) = 3.245, p = .023, η2 =.043).
Pleasure associated with consumption was higher among participants in the healthy
label condition (M = 5,23) in comparison with participants in the unhealthy label
group (M = 4,48). Furthermore, participants judged the milk-based fruit juice to be of
higher quality in the healthy label condition (M = 5,25) than in the unhealthy label
condition (M = 4,28; F (1,118) = 14.448, p = . 01, η2 =0.110).
However, contrary to our prediction, an analysis of covariance revealed no significant
differences in the amount of juice consumed across conditions. Covariates such as
level of thirst and preference for mango were considered in this analysis because they
had a statistical significant effect. These results could be explained by a ceiling effect:
participants only received 150 ml of milk-based fruit juice and several of them
consumed the entire portion during the test.
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Results from study 2 confirm that the “healthy=tasty” French intuition influences not
only taste perceptions but also the pleasure associated with the consumption and the
quality of the product. These results are consistent with study 1 and with our
conceptualization. We found, however, no statistical differences in terms of dietary
restraint or BMI. These results can be explained by the low level of BMI of our
sample. Further research should investigate if these effects persist among overweight
and obese consumers and also among restrained eaters.
5. General Discussion
Results from two studies indicate that the “healthy=tasty” intuition predominates in
France. These results also suggest that the “unhealthy=tasty” American intuition
identified by previous research (Raghunathan & al. 2006) seems to be a local
phenomenon, since food perceptions vary enormously cross-culturally (Rozin & al.,
2006; Fischler & Masson, 2008).
These results expand previous research on
intercultural differences in food perceptions because they show that implicit
associations are stronger and sometimes contradictory with explicit beliefs: even
participants that believed that unhealthy foods are tastier had a stronger
“healthy=tasty” implicit intuition. Understanding implicit processes is important
because they explain most spontaneous behaviors and previous research demonstrated
that eating choices are largely governed by automatic habits (e.g., Rothman, Sheeran,
and Wood, 2009).
Furthermore, our results demonstrate that the “healthy=tasty” French intuition is
negatively correlated with BMI and weaker among restrained eaters, suggesting that
chronic dieting may explain the shift toward the American model where unhealthy
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foods are considered tastier. Our second study also demonstrates that this intuition
influences taste perceptions when evaluating a neutral product.
From a theoretical standpoint, this research extends knowledge on intercultural
differences in food perceptions. It demonstrates that implicit associations between
tastiness and healthiness are contradictory in France and in the USA. This could be
one potential explanation for differences in the progression of obesity in both
countries and for what is called “The French Paradox” (Dolnick, 1999) or the fact that
French eat relatively more “unhealthy” foods (e.g., butter) than Americans, yet have
lower levels of obesity and less heart disease problems.
This article has also important practical implications. First of all, public policy makers
may reinforce the French model, emphasizing the pleasure of eating and avoiding
increasing guilt associated with food consumption. Our research demonstrates that
individuals with a high BMI and restrained eaters tend to have a less strong
“healthy=tasty” intuition, suggesting that guilt associated with food consumption
could be the key to explain the inter-cultural differences identified here. Further
research should look into identifying the mechanism behind these effects.
These results also have important managerial implications. A label “Good for health”,
mentioned on the packaging seems not to have the same effect among different
cultures. Indeed, such label could have a good impact on the taste perceptions for
French consumers whereas American consumers could consider the product to be
untasty. Future research should address this question
It is important to highlight the limitations of this work. The use of undergraduate
students undermines representation in terms of BMI categories, with an artificially
low representation of overweight and obese individuals. Since BMI and dietary
21
restraint are one of the potential mechanisms to explain our results, further research
should verify these effects among an overweight or obese sample in France.
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