The Science Behind Why Sandwiches Taste Better When Someone Else Makes Them

Have you noticed how much better a sandwich tastes when someone else makes it for you, as opposed to the sandwiches you make for yourself? It turns out, there’s a scientific reason for that weird little quirk.

After a series of experiments, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University affirmed that people prefer the taste of sandwiches made by other people to ones that they made themselves, and found that the reason is most likely that when making their own sandwich, people spend more time thinking about sandwiches and it makes them enjoy it less later. The researchers explained that imagining eating a food actually makes you less hungry for it later, so when someone else makes a sandwich for you, you haven’t already ‘pre-consumed’ it while putting it together, and it’s a more enjoyable experience.