Chocolate or cheese? Science finally reveals which one humans prefer
In an article published in the Mirror (UK) about a study performed at Yale University’s School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, humans will choose carbohydrate-rich chocolate over cheese when the option is presented.
In the study, volunteers were asked to put monetary bids on a variety of different foods. The researchers found the volunteers would place higher bids for things like cake, chocolate, and sugary treats than for savory snacks like cheese.
While this might be the answer to the ultimate question of sweet versus savory, we all know that 42 is the answer to question of life, the universe, and everything.
Links no longer work. Click to read the full article. Click for my take on pairing chocolate with cheese (and wine and beer).
Push come to shove, I have to admit that I would hedge my bets and put my bid down on a chocolate cheesecake so I could have my (chocolate) + (cheese) ++ cake and eat it, too.
What do you think about the study? If you were presented with the option of bidding for something chocolate over something cheese or savory, what would you do? Are you with me on the chocolate cheesecake or do you have another preference?
I am not a huge fan of many chocolate desserts – especially trad chocolate cake – because they don’t deliver enough ooomph in the chocolate department and/or the texture is boring. Most of the chocolate cheesecakes I have eaten fall into this category. Boring.
Many years ago I made a molé cheesake using our family recipe, substituting out much of the sour cream for molé. It was wonderfully complex and really quite fabulous. Not much about chocolate, per se, but definitely worth the calories and more. There are lessons in the molé cheesecake that I apply to “plain” chocolate cheesecake that deliver an unboring eating experience.
I honestly can’t read a heck of a lot into this study, given its limitations. The fact is, most people prefer sweet over savory but that’s also a generalization. I’ve even dealt with many kids who just don’t favor sweet stuff. They’d take chips over candy any day.
Chocolate and cheese are both phenomenal foods, but there is so much variation within each food. There’s cheese, and then there’s CHEESE. Ditto for chocolate. For me it would depend on the quality of each. Great cheese beats lousy chocolate, but really good chocolate beats run-of-the-mill cheese. Even then, there are factors like how they’re offered (room temp, cold, freshness of each, etc.).
As for chocolate cheesecake, I’m probably an outlier, but I’d rather eat a bar than a chocolate dessert, although a good cheesecake is one of the better desserts in whatever flavor. With most desserts, I’m good with a 3 or 4 bites, then I pass it along. (My friends like my dessert-eating style.) That said, I’ll go for the Zotter 80/20 bar and happily get most of it for myself.