--- title: Decoding The Menu Can Help You Slim Down description: A new Cornell's study shows that a menu's layout and design can affect your dietary habits. canonical: https://time.com/3057933/menu-design-affects-meal-choice/ author: Hannah Goldberg article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-30T16:11:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:25:02.453Z article:section: Health og:title: Decoding The Menu Can Help You Slim Down og:description: A new Cornell's study shows that a menu's layout and design can affect your choice in meals. og:url: https://time.com/3057933/menu-design-affects-meal-choice/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3009533b8e334909/69869dd41eebf7f169372143/menu.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Menu og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Decoding The Menu Can Help You Slim Down twitter:description: A new Cornell's study shows that a menu's layout and design can affect your choice in meals. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3009533b8e334909/69869dd41eebf7f169372143/menu.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Decoding Menus Can Help You Slim Down by [Hannah Goldberg](https://time.com/author/hannah-goldberg/) ## Hannah Goldberg Jul 30, 2014 4:11 PM UTC  Menu blackboard at Electric Internet Cafe, 605 W. Pender, near Richards Street. Menu blackboard at Electric Internet Cafe, 605 W. Pender, near Richards Street.Getty Images by [Hannah Goldberg](https://time.com/author/hannah-goldberg/) ## Hannah Goldberg Jul 30, 2014 4:11 PM UTC Diners beware—the items in flashy fonts and bolded lettering are not always the best choice for your health. A new study released this month shows that the dishes we order at restaurants have less to do with our preferences and more to do with a menu’s description and design. The Cornell [study](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278431914001029)—published in the _International Journal of Hospitality Management_—examined 217 menus and the meal choices of 300 diners. Two factors impact our decisions, say the researchers: how food is presented on the menu and how we imagine our food will taste. Tantalizing descriptions and highlighted fonts pull diners into certain items on a [menu.](http://foodpsychology.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/1.png) “In most cases, these are the least healthy items on the menu,” said Brian Wansink in a [statement](http://foodpsychology.cornell.edu/OP/menu%5Fdesign), the study’s lead author and author of _Slim by Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life._ Wansink and his co-author Katie Love altered the names of some menu items, changing things like “seafood filet” to “Succulent Italian Seafood Filet” and “red beans and rice” to “Cajun Red Beans and Rice.” And when they did? Sales of these menu items increased by 28%. On average, diners were willing to pay 12% more for foods with descriptive, enticing names. Wansink says the secret to healthy dining is talking to your server. “Ask ‘What are your two or three lighter entrées that get the most compliments?’ or ‘What’s the best thing on the menu if a person wants a light dinner?’” If you are not cooking at home, decoding the restaurant menu may be the ticket to not spoiling your diet when you dine out. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3057933/menu-design-affects-meal-choice/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3057933/menu-design-affects-meal-choice/"},"headline":"Decoding Menus Can Help You Slim Down","datePublished":"2014-07-30T16:11:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:25:02.453Z","description":"Menu design can affect your dietary habits","url":"https://time.com/3057933/menu-design-affects-meal-choice/","keywords":["Diet & Nutrition","restaurants"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3009533b8e334909/69869dd41eebf7f169372143/menu.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Hannah Goldberg","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/hannah-goldberg/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3009533b8e334909/69869dd41eebf7f169372143/menu.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Menu","caption":"Menu","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/dietnutrition/","name":"Diet & Nutrition"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3057933/menu-design-affects-meal-choice/","name":"Decoding Menus Can Help You Slim Down"}}]}] ```