Give Me Some Stale Popcorn

If you put it in front of me I will eat it…apparently so will everyone else. A new study suggests that it’s not really the taste that matters so much when it comes to eating, it’s the portion size. Research at Penn State has repeatedly found that the amount of food a person eats is largely dependent on the portion size. In one study people were given varying amounts of movie popcorn. Additionally, some people were given stale popcorn and some were given fresh popcorn. The people with old popcorn described it as “stale” and “terrible.” But that still didn’t stop them from eating it! Participants with large containers of stale popcorn ate 34 percent more than those with medium containers. Even worse were the participants with the large buckets of fresh popcorn – they ate 45 percent more than those with medium buckets of fresh popcorn.

It really worries me when people will eat a lot of something they describe as “stale” and “terrible.” Actually I have no room to talk. I’m constantly eating food when I’m not hungry simply because I’m bored and it’s sitting in front of my face. All this talk of popcorn is making hungry…