If Food Doesnt Make You Happy Im Not Sure What Could

good morning everyone

so we often ask ourself a question do we

eat to live or we live to eat some of us

would actually think that they would

need a cup of coffee in the morning to

energize and boost up my name is maja

Dawid and I’m here today to give you a

better insight about what’s going on

between food and our brains start with

I’ve been always interested in the art

of cooking in one hand and the link

between food and psychology on the other

hand yet I’ve actually never knew how is

that happening

I found that almost all research is done

on the effect or the link between food

and psychology and the effect of food on

our mood and the effect of our mood on

our decisions on what to eat all focuses

on one perspective which is a consumer

perspective but not the chefs or cooks

perspective which I believe is as

important as the first at the end every

day these people are cooking for you so

if there is a relationship a connection

between their mood and the food that

they’re cooking this is definitely going

to affect you as a customer it all

starts in our brain in the center of our

brain we have what we call biochemical

transmitters or neuro transmitters these

transmitters are basically messengers

that are there to control our mood our

behaviors and our appetite for example

the mean free food related the

transmitters are what we called

serotonin dopamine and Europe a feeling

we’re not gonna get into details of that

and Matt’s is scientific she’ll talk

we’re gonna stick to the food part so

other than that we have another group of

what we call stimulants and the very

good example of that is found in

caffeine caffeine or coffee we always

drink coffee every day and caffeine

actually is a good source of reducing

your stress and it’s actually a good at

the present on the short-term but on the

long term and if over consumed it

actually could cause your dehydration

and mood swings so a part of that we

have another group of what we call

endorphins that are also influences that

affect us that affect our brain and a

very good example and of that is found

in dark chocolate or in cacao cacao is

known to comfort you too easy you to

make you feel a bit relaxed and that’s

why dark chocolate is a very

and component in nearly all diet or

healthy diet plans as an alternative for

a dessert or a snack so moving forward a

part of the brain we have another main

component which is the thinking the way

we think about food is a very important

factor the way we perceive food and

that’s why the way food is presented to

us is very important it’s a very simple

process that our body works I it’s the

same as it’s a process similar to the

telephone where we have a sender and we

have a receiver and then between we have

a translation of responses so in our

case the sender is being the images that

we formed about the food that we intend

to eat even before start eating that

food and the receiver is our body and as

we said between we have a translation of

responses where they are positive or a

negative let’s take an example if I’m

going to have where anyone knew any one

of you going to have a burger if you go

having a burger with a guilt-free a

happy mind what’s going to happen is

basically you’re gonna form a positive

picture in your brain and that will

translate into a response within your

body that will end up in fully

metabolizing and free digesting that

burger

when at the contrary if you go with a

guilty mind set what can happen is

basically gonna form a negative image of

that burger and what’s gonna happen is

that your body will respond to that by

increasing the level of insulin and

cortisol antibody and hence you will end

up restoring more fat out of that burger

so whenever you want to have a burger

just go with a guilt-free mindset

another very good example would be

having a healthy piece and a junk please

or a junk restaurant in front of a gym

if you think of it both are of a very

great business models the difference is

we will have a group of people who would

appreciate having a healthy place as

part of their lifestyle and they will

end up going there often and on the

other hand we’ll also have people who

would also appreciate a job place as a

place of very word after an intense

workout so they will both end up working

perfectly and very well so it’s a matter

of thinking it really goes back to the

way we think the way we perceive food

and the images that we form before we

intend to eat but now a lot of you would

actually ask

but what is it that bad food that is

actually affecting us it all goes back

to one thing it’s that taste and the

taste buds we have five main tastes

their taste buds we have the sweet we

have the sour we have the salty we have

the bitter and we have the fifth which

what we call the umami flavor or the

fusion flavor which is basically a mix

of different flavors in one component so

the more of a flavors we can get the

better of an umami flavor we could reach

and nowadays the umami flavor or the

fusion flavors are becoming a trend and

modern culinary cuisine and that’s

because of the ability to enhance your

food experience even before it starts or

actually after it starts by providing

you with the set of variety of different

flavors all in one component but also

the taste and the taste but since all

our T’s and these buds are also affected

and influenced by manufactures for

example we have preferences the flavors

are alike is different than the flavors

that you like the fidelity visa

anyone else likes we have expectations

how is the food in relation to the image

that I have formed before in hand we

also have and color also before color

we’re gonna come to this right now

but before curry we have service that

service can easily when you’re

experienced by distracting you by

distracting your tastebuds

we have context Who am I with and where

I am this is definitely of a big

influence to you the interior decor the

place the atmosphere of the place it

could easily either comfort you or

stress you out

we also have sound the more in the sound

of our own ships the more you would

perceive that as fresh and that’s why if

we look at marketing ads focusing on

food they all focus at the sound part

because it actually triggers your taste

buds into tasting better we also have

hunger in terms of hunger you produce

more saliva in your mouth so you’ll end

up eating faster and less tasting

complex flavors also have colors colors

are highly linked to food we tend to

perceive in color as fresh as citrus

flavors and red as in being sweet one

science ketchup introduced the colored

bottle campaign they actually feel big

time and you know why because when

people asked about their opinion they

said that the actual taste was different

than the perceived one in their mind in

comparison to the college that they had

or they’ve seen at the end they were all

the same exact taste but the colors were

different and that’s was the confusion

that happened to the customers I also

have emotions in terms of stress our

ability to taste sweet flavors decreases

and that’s why whenever you’re stressed

you go and hunt for sweet flavors more

and more and you end up eating more

because you have you want more of that

taste or that flavor to have to be able

to get the same things that you used to

have before we also have age as we age

of time our ability to taste also

decreases and sometimes we would need up

to nine times more of the same exact

flavor to get the same this we used to

get before we also have description it’s

really really interesting how someone

can deceive someone’s mind only by using

certain words for example I can get a

piece of meat and sell it to you by

saying this is a Wahoo a grass-fed

quaint high quality premium fresh or a

word such as the handmade health but

these are all words that are there to

dis to to enhance your experience even

before it starts to make you be able to

form better images about the food that I

do intend to eat so after we’ve formed

this relationship some of us would

actually ask that is there any

particular food that I can eat to feel

good or other food that can actually

make me feel bad the answer is

absolutely yes foods that I which in

vitamins proteins and fibers are known

to be mood boosters and that’s because

they enhances your moves by lowering the

absorption of carbs a new to your

bloodstream and therefore they increase

the level of dopamine which was what we

called a mood modulated on the other

hand we have other type of food such as

refined sugar or complex carbs they are

known to be a mood Buster they actually

give you a negative mood and the wines

that why that happens it’s because of

the rush that they give you at the

beginning followed by a crash

after that that’s why junk food is

always good to have on the short-term

and it will actually satisfy on the

short-term but it will never give you a

good mood on the long term so now that

we have I hope a better understanding of

of this link between the food and

psychology and the effect on us how can

we as chefs as a restaurant owners as

operators utilize this information to

better apply to better serve you as

customers one of the biggest challenges

is in modern a food and beverage world

is consistency but sometimes it’s not

it’s not the inconsistency of food

that’s being a problem but rather the

inconsistency of your mind of our

mindset as costumers therefore

understanding that or understanding our

current customer state of mind is

important for us in a success of our

business it’s a simple process that we

need to go by first of all we need to

understand and the current mindset and

status that our customers are having

second we need to understand the link

between food and psychology and the

effect of food on earth and on our mood

and the effect of our mood on our

decisions on where to eat and what to

eat and third we need to translate that

into an experience that starts with

giving you the ability to form big our

great pictures about the food that you

intend to eat followed by a great

atmosphere and service and last but not

least well combined and well studied

variety of flavors more than 50% of your

food journey is about psychology so the

next time you go wanna grab a bite just

try to take a minute and think what is

it basically that I’m feeling right now

what is my current mood where’s my

carrot mindset this will definitely be

able to help you in taking better

decisions on where to eat or with whom

to go and eat after that try to pick the

food that actually suits your current

mood that will actually make you feel

better on the long term and not just on

the short term just ask yourself three

questions first of all what is it that

are meeting

try to break it down into basic

ingredients and compare them to

each other whether it’s protein its

greens its carbohydrates what is it

exactly the main components of the thing

that you are eating second why am i

eating just ask yourself is it the

Armwood is it that I’m hungry

is it that I’m lonely I’m sad what is it

basically that’s making you eat and that

will also help you in understanding

yourself and picking the flavors that

you should be eating after that ask

yourself how will I be feeling

afterwards and by that we don’t mean by

physically only but emotionally as well

that is it going to be a good mood

booster on the long-term which is going

to be a temporary mood and temporary

short period of time and gonna bust my

mood after that try to understand that

try to think of that but at the end of

the day wherever you go and wherever you

have and whenever you go just make sure

to always go with a happy mind and

positive to it thank you so much

[Applause]