FEED your mind: The evolutionary roots of human food cognition

Abstract

Research on food cognition has overlooked that our modern food environment strongly differs from the environment in which our ancestors lived. In fact, in most cultures today, many decisions about food are made during a trip to the grocery store, where we might ask ourselves: Are these canned tomatoes healthy? but certainly not: Are they edible or toxic? In contrast, our ancestors had to navigate their natural environment to Find and Evaluate the beneficial foods in that environment, while Excluding the costs of consuming something harmful, and finally Decide which entities to eat. We call this the FEED problem and present an innovative perspective on food cognition. We argue that a focus on FEED can bridge the gap between different findings in the field of food cognition and shed a new light on the cognitive and brain mechanisms that drive our food behaviors. It has the potential to promote novel intervention strategies, at a time when the rise of food-related health and environmental challenges calls for action.