In a recent experiment, psychologists told 32 volunteers that they were going to try a new brand of strawberry yogurt. They then turned out the light, telling the testers that it was too ensure they focused on "taste." 19 of the 32 praised the "strawberry flavor," and one said she loved strawberry yogurt and would switch to this brand. The yogurt was chocolate.The anecdote comes from an article by Edward Dolnick. He's also got a great section on food fakery: The attempt to trick diners by calling cheap ingredients expensive. It works. I was thinking about a related phenomena last week, when I ordered the lamb cumin at Hong Kong Palace. If the dish had been the daily special at a fine restaurant, had come on porcelain plate and been cut into thick chunks rather than small strips, I'd have raved about it for weeks. As it is, I'll still rave, but it cost me $10, not $30. Am I being ripped off?Maybe. On the other hand, when people go out for a good meal (or a play, a concert, etc), they're paying for more than the food: They're buying themselves into a mindset, a particular mood to share with friends, an attentiveness to the cuisine. Broadly speaking, those are all mental states. You shouldn't need to pay for them. But we often do. The money goes, in part, to focus the mind. Having already bet on the value of the experience, we're locked in to engaging it fully. In that way, a pricey meal isn't all that different then these experiments where you put $500 in escrow and lose it if you fail to attain your weight loss goals, or sign up for a gym and pay only if you forget to attend. Except, in those cases, we're spending money to force ourselves to show up for something we don't enjoy. In the case of a nice meal, we're spending money to force ourselves to fully show up for something we do. Turns out that that's also hard.Image used under a Creative Commons license from Virtual Ern. THE COST OF A NIGHT OUT.
In a recent experiment, psychologists told 32 volunteers that they were going to try a new brand of strawberry yogurt. They then turned out the light, telling the testers that it was too ensure they focused on "taste." 19 of the 32 praised the "strawberry flavor," and one said she loved strawberry yogurt and would switch to this brand. The yogurt was chocolate.The anecdote comes from an article by Edward Dolnick. He's also got a great section on food fakery: The attempt to trick diners by calling cheap ingredients expensive. It works. I was thinking about a related phenomena last week, when I ordered the lamb cumin at Hong Kong Palace. If the dish had been the daily special at a fine restaurant, had come on porcelain plate and been cut into thick chunks rather than small strips, I'd have raved about it for weeks. As it is, I'll still rave, but it cost me $10, not $30. Am I being ripped off?Maybe. On the other hand, when people go out for a good meal (or a play, a concert, etc), they're paying for more than the food: They're buying themselves into a mindset, a particular mood to share with friends, an attentiveness to the cuisine. Broadly speaking, those are all mental states. You shouldn't need to pay for them. But we often do. The money goes, in part, to focus the mind. Having already bet on the value of the experience, we're locked in to engaging it fully. In that way, a pricey meal isn't all that different then these experiments where you put $500 in escrow and lose it if you fail to attain your weight loss goals, or sign up for a gym and pay only if you forget to attend. Except, in those cases, we're spending money to force ourselves to show up for something we don't enjoy. In the case of a nice meal, we're spending money to force ourselves to fully show up for something we do. Turns out that that's also hard.Image used under a Creative Commons license from Virtual Ern. 
