Why does food taste better when you eat it outside? Or am I imagining that?—Alan Harley, via email
If you’re asking whether there’s research on the subject…sorry, we couldn’t find anything concrete.
“I have no knowledge of any studies like that,” admits Danielle Reed, a chief science officer at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, Penn. There is, however, “a lot of evidence for something called ‘conditioned place preference.’ This means that when we eat somewhere that has other benefits, we learn that food is good in that place,” she says.
This makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. When animals—and we’re animals—eat, they’re putting themselves in a vulnerable position (they become easier targets for predators). “So, any place that’s safe and calm and comforting is going to make the experience of eating that much better,” says Reed. “It’s like if we’re looking at art in a beautiful place, we might have a more positive experience than if we’re looking at it, while, say, driving on a highway.” (Um, don’t test this by looking at art while driving on a highway. Watch the road.)
Recipe: Andrea Buckett’s epic layered breakfast pie
There’s also evidence that scents—potentially more noticeable when you’re indoors, where there’s less air circulation—can interfere with how you feel about the food that you’re eating.
“There are research studies that show that humans love congruency,” says Reed. “They like to have whatever they’re eating taste like it smells. If we’re having a nice, light salad on the dock, we’d want fresh air. But we wouldn’t mind being in a house that smells like cinnamon when we’re eating pie.”
Eating outside by the lake, on a pleasant day, with family and friends, is probably an enjoyable experience for a lot of cottagers and, therefore, could make for enjoyable food. But c’mon, would your hamburger be especially craveable if wasps were buzzing around your face? Or if you were trying to eat it during a thunderstorm? Or if it was a disgusting burger to begin with?
The act of eating outdoors “doesn’t make food taste better on our tongues,” says Reed. Just in our minds.
This article was originally published in the August 2025 issue of Cottage Life.
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