Neophobia in humans and the special status of foods of animal origin.

Research from the anthropological, psychological, and animal behavior literatures suggests that foods of animal origin have a special status. In two studies we explored the question of whether individuals are more neophobic with respect to animal foods than non-animal foods. In the first study male and female subjects, after reading descriptions, rated their willingness to taste ten "novel" foods, which were actually fictitious. Foods in meat/fish/poultry and dairy/egg categories received lower ratings than those in fruit, vegetable, and grain categories. In the second study subjects were exposed to real foods, some of which were named and described accurately and were, therefore, familiar and some of which were named and described fictitiously and were, therefore, novel. There were no food category differences in subjects' willingness to taste familiar foods, but subjects were less willing to eat novel flesh foods than foods in the other categories. The results are discussed in terms of Rozin & Fallon's (1980) taxonomy of motivations for rejecting foods.