Food exists at the intersection of need and want. The human body requires regular, sufficient nourishment in the form of energy, minerals, vitamins and fiber to sustain both physical and mental health. At the same time, food is a source of deep enjoyment, a sensual pleasure heightened by its quality, seasonality, and the social contexts in which it is grown, prepared and shared.

It is especially troubling, then, when the experience of eating diverges from nourishment altogether. In today’s food environment, taste can be manufactured to feel pleasurable while masking the absence of real sustenance. Certain industrial processes and flavor technologies intentionally amplify the “bliss point” that overrides the body’s natural sense of moderation and satiety. The result is a proliferation of products that deliver concentrated calories and engineered taste while offering little or no genuine nutritional value. These foods create a feedback loop of immediate gratification, disconnected from the qualities that make food both nourishing and truly satisfying.