# We are what we eat: Cross‐cultural self‐prioritization effects for food stimuli

## TL;DR

This study shows that people associate their identity with food from their own culture more strongly than foreign food, highlighting food's role in personal identity.

## Contribution

The study demonstrates that cultural food associations influence self-identity, independent of reluctance to try new foods.

## Key findings

- Participants associated their self more strongly with food from their own culture.
- Self-association with food was not linked to food neophobia.
- Cultural food stimuli were linked to personal identity across both Italian and Japanese groups.

## Abstract

Previous research has shown that the concept of self is malleable and can be associated with various arbitrary stimuli. This study explored whether the self could be linked to images of food representative of one's own or a different culture. We compared two groups, Italian and Japanese individuals, whose cultures are both characterized by rich and distinctive food traditions. Participants performed a perceptual matching task, associating themselves with either Italian or Japanese food, depending on the block. They also reported their food habits and preferences. The findings revealed that, in both groups, the self could extend to include food stimuli from both cultural categories. However, the self was more strongly associated with food typical of the participant's own culture. Additionally, this association was unrelated to reluctance to try unfamiliar foods, as measured by the Food Neophobia Scale. These results underscore the central role of food in shaping personal identity, supporting the hypothesis of a modulatory effect of valence on the strength of self‐association with arbitrary items and suggesting that self‐related food associations may influence food preferences.