--- title: You Think Food Tastes Better If It's Pricier description: Restaurant goers who pay more at restaurant buffets think the food is tastier than the same food offered at a lower cost canonical: https://time.com/84332/you-think-food-tastes-better-if-its-expensive/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-01T16:14:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:36:18.340Z article:section: Health og:title: You Think Food Tastes Better If It's Pricier og:description: Restaurant goers who pay more at restaurant buffets think the food is tastier than the same food offered at a lower cost og:url: https://time.com/84332/you-think-food-tastes-better-if-its-expensive/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt15b8441db36f85f7/69868d511eebf7a18a370aee/71916498-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5700 og:image:height: 3206 og:image:alt: 71916498 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: You Think Food Tastes Better If It's Pricier twitter:description: Restaurant goers who pay more at restaurant buffets think the food is tastier than the same food offered at a lower cost twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt15b8441db36f85f7/69868d511eebf7a18a370aee/71916498-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # You Think Food Tastes Better If It's Expensive > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=b86d35d1-6418-4732-9584-0a728df4f853&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff May 1, 2014 4:14 PM UTC  Lobster Lobster Image Source—Getty Images/Image Source by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff May 1, 2014 4:14 PM UTC We’re pretty shallow when it comes to food. I don’t just mean our predilections for organic food and fancy coconut water. A new study shows that people change their perceptions on how food tastes based on how much it costs. The researchers from Cornell University went to an Italian buffet in upstate New York and studied the dining habits of 139 customers when the researchers manipulated the prices of the all-you-can-eat buffet. The customers were offered the buffet at either $4 or $8, and were asked to access their dining experience by rating the food, restaurant, and their first, middle and last taste of the food based on a nine-point scale. The customers who paid for the $8 buffet enjoyed their food 11% more than the customers who ate the $4 buffet. Not only that, but people who paid for the cheaper buffet were more likely to report they felt like they overate and felt more guilty about the meal. But both groups actually ate the same amount of food. “We were fascinated to find that pricing has little impact on how much one eats, but a huge impact on how you interpret the experience,” said study author Brian Wansink, a professor of consumer behavior, [in a statement](http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/616778/?sc=sphr&xy=10003935). The researchers didn’t draw conclusions for why people enjoyed their food more when it was pricer, but it’s rather intuitive: We tend to associate cost with quality. But the findings reveal that small tweaks to a dining experience can change how people perceive their meals. Other research from from Cornell University has shown that people who eat in dim lighting consume 175 less calories than people who eat in brightly lit areas, and they think the food tastes better. The researchers think that perhaps people associate a dimly lit dinner with a more relaxed and slower eating experience. 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