Pretty much as the title says, why do we, as humans, get tired or burnt out of eating the same type of meals over and over? As composed to other animals…
Is there a biological/evolutionary reason as to why we are not ‘truly’ content with eating the same types of food 24/7?
Really been pondering about this.
In: Biology
My understanding is that humans are evolutionally programmed to seek out different foods in case the current thing runs out. Conversely, we also have the ingrained concept that we should only eat the same food, because other things might be poisonous. This is thought to be one of the reasons small children are so fussy over foods. Depending on how your adult brain feels, it might be swaying to one side or the other.
Some animals are specialists in their diets that focus on eating a single type of food while others are generalists that rely on many types of food to fulfill their dietary needs and eat whatever is available when needed.
Humans are generalists, and our psychology on eating is oriented around this. If we were to only eat a single type of food in nature (for example, fruit) it’s quite likely we would become deficient in an important nutrient (in the fruit example, protein). By becoming tired of eating the same thing, especially when our bodies are deficient in something we aren’t eating enough of, we are motivated to seek out a variety of foods like our body requires.
Specialists (for example, an obligate carnivore like a cat) still eat a variety of foods (rodents, birds, lizards, etc.) but their biology is oriented around less variety, hoarding and minimizing use of nutrients their diet is poor in and getting maximum value out of what it is rich in.
Humans experience a phenomenon known as[ sensory-specific satiety](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory-specific_satiety), a phenomenon that refers to the declining satisfaction generated by the consumption of a certain type of food, and the consequent renewal in appetite resulting from the exposure to a new flavour or food. This mechanism encourages us to switch between foods to ensure we’re consuming a wide variety of nutrients. Evolutionarily, this would prevent early humans from over-relying on one type of food that might not provide all essential nutrients.
The human brain abhors boredom and craves novelty, or at least variety.
But there are exceptions.
There are some people who are either unbothered by or actively prefer little to no variety.
Maybe it’s because we understand that we have an option to have different kinds of foods that offer a unique experience. Feeding wild animals some human foods (not recommended) will cause them to return because they taste different. Humans don’t get tired of the same food. We get tired when we realize we have a variety of food choices to eat.
Maybe humans in the modern age get bored more easily than our ancestors did due to our exposure to so much stimulation that we crave excitement in different areas, including food. In medieval Europe, people ate simple diets of bread, cheese, butter, vegetable porridge, fish and the occasional other meat. Current day African hunter gatherers eat mostly the same game animals, wild tubers, etc.
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