How Specific Visual Cues Can Help Stimulate an Appetite for Healthier Food

A team of British scientists is examining different ways to encourage people to eat healthier, more nutritious and sustainable food. Quartz looked at one such method that uses color, shapes, design and other visual cues to help to fool the brain into believing that the food in front of us is far more decadent than it actually is.

Their experiments aim to trick our brains into imagining we’re eating a decadent meal, when in fact we’re eating something with just the fraction of the calories. The duo plays with colors and shapes to nudge people into believing a dish is sweeter than it actually is, and they deploy visual illusions to prompt diners to choose a more sustainable protein…