In a wartime survey conducted by a team of food-habits researchers, only 14 percent of the students at a women's college said they liked evaporated milk. After serving it to the students sixteen times over the course of a month, the researchers asked again. Now 51 percent liked it. As Kurt Lewin put it, People like what they eat, rather than eat what they like.
A wartime study on food preferences at a women's college revealed that initial preferences for evaporated milk were quite low, with only 14 percent of students expressing a liking for it. However, after the researchers served the milk multiple times within a month, the acceptance rate significantly increased to 51 percent. This shift highlights how familiarity can influence preferences over time.
Kurt Lewin's observation, "People like what they eat, rather than eat what they like," encapsulates the idea that repeated exposure to a food can change perceptions and preferences, suggesting that taste can be shaped by experience rather than being solely an innate preference. This concept is supported by the findings from the study referenced in Mary Roach's book "Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal."
