Buzz
The saying goes, 'You are what you eat,' but the manner in which you consume your meals can also shed light on your character. Tooga/Getty ImagesYour approach to eating—how you navigate your plate and consume your food—can offer deep insights into your personality. This might reveal more about you than whether you're messy, gluten-averse, or obsessed with fried foods.
Then again, perhaps not. It's a complex topic.
Consider this kind of eater: The person who methodically stabs a forkful of potatoes, consumes them entirely, then shifts to the broccoli, finishing it before moving on to the chicken fried steak or filet mignon to complete the meal.
These compartmentalized diners, these isolationist eaters, are real. They exist, and their habits are undeniable. You might have even dined with one without realizing it.
What should we think about such individuals?
Working Around the Plate
"There isn't a specific term for it. It simply reflects a personality type," explains Juliet A. Boghossian, a behavioral food expert and founder of Food-Ology. "They tend to be... I dislike the word 'obsessive,' but I'll use it. They can be obsessive about details. Meticulous. They crave order and structure, often to preserve the integrity of a situation."
Boghossian compares isolationist eaters to another familiar type of quirky diner: those who demand that no food items on their plate touch. Each dish must remain separate, occupying its own designated space on the plate.
The key distinction between these two types of eaters is that the one with a phobia of food touching is well-documented in scientific research. In contrast, isolationist eaters are less defined and studied, making it challenging to draw conclusions or even form assumptions about their behavior.
"I believe it largely depends on the behavior itself," states Nancy Zucker, a professor at the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences' Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. "There are numerous eating behaviors that remain poorly understood. For instance, why someone would finish one item on their plate before moving to the next: we don't fully grasp the factors driving this. Hypotheses might include difficulties with executive functioning or switching tasks, but the truth is, we simply don't know."
Zucker notes that food-touching phobias have been researched. "For some individuals, though not all, an exaggerated disgust response may explain why they can't tolerate food items touching," she explains from Chicago, where she was attending the International Conference on Eating Disorders. "Disgust is an emotion meant to shield us from pathogens." To someone with this phobia, even a brown spot on a french fry could render an entire meal inedible if not carefully separated.
To many, this level of picky eating might appear excessive.
"For some, having that degree of structure and order is beneficial," Boghossian remarks. "However, it might also be seen as overly rigid. These individuals often struggle to adapt to abrupt changes, such as having all their food mixed together on a plate."
Uncovering Eating Clues
Our eating habits, once established, become ingrained routines. Zucker explains that these habits form in the brain. For instance, if we're accustomed to eating beyond the point of fullness, we may continue doing so, potentially leading to serious health issues.
Similarly, if we have a specific way of navigating our plate, we tend to stick to it.
Why is this the case? What do these varied eating habits signify? What insights do they provide about ourselves? "There's so much we don't understand about the subtle behaviors that make up an eating episode," Zucker notes.
Boghossian's platform, Food-Ology, carries the slogan, "You Are HOW You Eat." With over 25 years of research into eating habits, she combines her personal observations with data from marketing research firms to draw her conclusions. Her expertise has led to food behavior studies for brands such as Baskin-Robbins and Dunkin' Donuts.
"Your eating habits reflect your behavior and character," she explains. "It's a fascinating way to uncover someone's true nature—what drives them, what motivates them, what they fear, and what challenges them. All of this can be understood by observing how someone interacts with food."
If you know someone who's a picky eater, be patient. Finnish researchers discovered that picky eating, or what they call "food neophobia"—a fear of trying new foods—has a genetic component. By studying 28 Finnish families and a group of British female twins, they found that about two-thirds of the participants had a hereditary tendency toward pickiness. While their behavior can be adjusted—pass the ketchup, please—the study suggests that "the underlying neophobic personality trait may persist."
