Never Have That Recipe Again: Identification of Functional Shifts in Culinary Interests from Heuristic Cues of Disease Transmission

In the service of restricting contact with prospective disease vectors, it has been argued humans exhibit aversion toward cues heuristically inferred as pathogenic in the food consumption behaviors. This proclivity to avoid disease led to three studies considering differences in appetite as a function of these cues. Study 1 investigated how interpersonal contact in food sharing fostered aversion. Studies 2 and 3 considered heuristic connotations of disease transmission through cues to outgroup membership and physical deformities. Pathogen disgust heightened aversion to food sharing with hands. Perceived infectability heightened aversion toward deformity cues but not outgroup membership. Results provide evidence for a functional response to disease cues in food domains while identifying the boundaries of these heuristic cues.