A scientific study out of Russia shows us what we already know- the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, and the french fries we steal from someone else's plate taste better. An experiment involving 120 people had them eat french fries under several different conditions, one in which the subject owned the fries, another in which they were given to them as a gift, and two in which they were instructed to steal them from someone else, either in a high-risk or low-risk situation. The fries themselves were prepared exactly the same way for each scenario. After each session, subjects rated the french fries on range of qualities. The fries taken in the high-risk thievery scenario were judged nearly 40% tastier than when the subject ate their own fries. The subjects also reported both guilt and excitement over it.
The study cites the global maxim that "stolen food tastes better," which I've never heard, but maybe that's because of the way I was raised. Another finding was that how hungry a subject was at the time affected how good the fries were, which alludes to a maxim I've always heard, "hunger is the best sauce." The full study is not available publicly, but some of the possible underlying reasons are presented at Refractor. -via Damn Interesting
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