What does your food vice say about you?

Recently scientists have been seeking to establish a link between food preferences and our personality traits.

Certainly our food habits can say a lot about who we are, and in many ways are shaped by our childhood and upbringing.

Below we explore how our food vices can be an indication of our personalities:

If you love pepperoni pizza 

If you are partial to a pizza with traditional meat-based toppings, apparently you are more likely to be argumentative and prone to procrastinating.

This evidence came to light during a study conducted by Dr Alan Hirsch, director of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in the U.S. He carried out psychiatric and personality tests on 500 British adults to determine what their favourite pizza toppings said about them.

Overall, the results showed those who prefer pepperoni pizzas tend to thrive when they are the centre of attention and are more extroverted than those who prefer olive and egg toppings. Those who like chicken on their pizza tend to be competitive, driven and assertive.

If you love curry 

The curry and personality study – aptly named Some Like It Hot – was conducted at the University of Grenoble in France. Here researchers found that men who like spicy foods such as a vindaloo curry have high levels of testosterone. This is linked to “financial, sexual and behavioural risk-taking”.

It is important to note that the curry doesn’t increase testosterone levels – rather, men with high levels of the hormone are more drawn to spicy foods. According to researchers, this indicates their risk-taking personalities.

If you love chocolate

In the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology a study reveals that people with a sweet tooth tend to have sweeter dispositions. Personality comparisons were made between those who prefer sweet foods (such as chocolate and cake) and those who prefer bitter, spicy, salty, or sour flavours. Participants had to rank their taste preferences and behaviour in different situations on a scale of one to 10.

Overall, the results showed that those with a sweet tooth are more likely to volunteer to help someone in need. They are also considered to be more even-tempered and easier to get along with.

If you love vanilla ice cream

Neurologist, Dr Alan Hirsch (from the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation) has discovered evidence to suggest the stereotype of conventional, boring vanilla is not strictly true. If you love the traditional flavour, you are more likely to be a dynamic idealist – as determined by psychiatric tests carried out by Hirsch himself.

He concluded that vanilla ice cream lovers are impulsive and “rely more on intuition than logic”. They also tend to be more emotionally expressive and have successful relationships.