The pleasure of sharing: Can social context make healthy food more appealing?

Abstract This study investigates whether healthy food can be made more appealing by looking at the pleasure induced by the social context in which food is eaten (eating alone, eating together, or sharing food), assuming that pleasure affects food appeal. Whereas unhealthy food is often considered a source of pleasure, healthy food is not. The pleasure induced in images portraying healthy food may depend on the social context in which the food is eaten. Based on evolutionary associations of sharing food and social interaction with pleasure, we expected that eating together induces more pleasure than eating alone and that sharing food induces more pleasure than eating together. Two between‐subject experiments with a 3 (context: eating alone, eating together, or sharing food) × 2 (healthfulness: healthy or unhealthy) design were conducted across various age groups and food types. Results indicate that images in which healthy food is shared induce more pleasure than images in which healthy food is eaten alone, making the food involved more appealing. Pleasurable imagery of healthy food being shared therefore seems to hold promise as a strategy to promote healthy eating through public service or commercial advertising.