I could have sworn I heard something once about how fast food chains put addictive chemicals in their food. For me, I don't have an addictive personality. There's nothing in my life I feel addicted to other than fast food. It's weird. I know the food is dogshit and I can make tastier stuff at home. But I also think about getting fast food all the time and have to stop myself from ordering it a lot. It does kind feel like a dopamine hit when I open up a bag of fast food and start digging in.

  • Woly [any]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Think of it this way. No, it's unlikely that fast food companies are putting actual drugs in your food. Yes, they do hire teams of scientists to engineer the most satisfying and crave inducing product possible, down to the smell of the french fries and the color of the buns. You're going up against 100 million dollars of R&D aimed directly at your lonely little monkey brain, so it's not surprising that people get addicted to the stuff, because that's what these companies paid to make happen.

      • Woly [any]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Products can be evaluated and optimized using a method known as quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA), in which a focus group defines the sensory attributes for a specific product and establishes numerical scores for these attributes. Establishing the appropriate measurement is of major importance, as it allows sensory results to be quantified. This is the essence of sensory science: converting human perception of a food into quantifiable results.

        From some random article on fast food R&D. You shouldn't underestimate how much effort goes into making fast food as addictive as possible. It's an entire industry.

          • ChapoBapo [he/him]
            ·
            4 years ago

            That's a huge part of the R&D - it needs to be created so that the final preparation will get done by someone who doesn't give a shit.

            • Ho_Chi_Chungus [she/her]
              ·
              4 years ago

              Can confirm. Worked at jack in the box and nobody gave a shit about making tacos but they still ended up delicious and addictive

            • m0ut4f33l [none/use name]
              ·
              4 years ago

              a flavorist must always consider the food’s “mouthfeel”
              everyone's talking about it now :sicko-yes:

            • Caocao [he/him]
              ·
              4 years ago

              holy crap. Imagine if all this technology, time, and effort was put towards something that actually benefited humanity

              • D61 [any]
                ·
                4 years ago

                It was, and the result... Raman noodles.

              • CatherineTheSoSo [any]
                ·
                4 years ago

                It's an interesting question. Getting people the tastiest food possible on the cheap isn't in itself a bad thing. The problem is that that food is unhealthy and makes people fat. I wonder how much would it cost to make basically the same food but healthy or whether it's possible at all.

    • ReaganYouth [comrade/them]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Most of the fast food places near me also clearly have fans pushing the smell of the food out their window, you can smell it from 20+ feet away. If you've had a long day, you're tired and hungry and suddenly you smell something super tasty and there's a nice, pleasant looking fast food restaurant that can satisfy that itch in a matter of minutes, it's not hard to see how that can be super tempting to a lot of people.