Where Big Brother is watching what you eat

updated 6:01 p.m. ET Sept. 21, 2008

WAGENINGEN, Netherlands - At the university cafeteria, women linger longer than men over their lunch decisions. Given a choice, they tend to opt for meat labeled "animal friendly," while men likely will go for a new product.

Cameras are watching them. From inside a control room, monitors record the customers' movements, hesitations, facial expressions, posture, weight, even their eating habits.

It gives the scientists plenty to chew over. They study the influences on eating, how products can be made more appealing, and how to direct consumers to specific — perhaps healthier — choices.

Does it matter if the cheese slices are wrapped in plastic? If the bread is presented as a loaf or sliced up? Whether the salad is on a red table or a blue one? Whether the soft drinks are by the entrance or by the checkout? Or where they stand in relation to fresh juices?

The $4.5 million Restaurant of the Future is run by scientists of Wageningen University and Research Center, working with Sodexo, an international catering firm, and the Noldus software company, to answer questions from the food industry and behaviorists.

"We think of ourselves as rational beings, always making the best choice," says Rene Koster, director of the Restaurant of the Future Foundation. But that's not true; 80 percent of our decisions are made subconsciously, he said, citing U.S. studies.

Research on consumer behavior has been around since marketing began. Cornell University professor Brian Wansink has published popular works in the United States on how to fight obesity through food psychology, and runs a lab designed to look like a kitchen on the Cornell campus. McDonald's has done confidential studies on its own customers.

Arthur Max / AP The cafeteria is organized in a series of islands, each with a different food type. People feel they have a wider selection — and they tend to spend more money.

But with its spy machines, databases and battery of analysts, the Wageningen project, with 42 companies participating, is meant to take the study of eating to a level approaching rocket science.

Knowing how to subtly guide choices could have a huge commercial impact. About half of all food consumed in the United States is outside the home. That figure shoots up to 68 percent in Japan.

Companies are interested, of course, but so are public facilities. A hospital in Utrecht has asked for a project on the effects of a better meal or a change of dining surroundings on the well-being of its patients. Schools want to know how to deal with young teenagers who throw away home-prepared food and lunch on potato chips and Coke instead.

The cafeteria is organized in a series of islands, each with a different food type, in what Koster called a free-flow system rather than the traditional long line serving everything. People feel they have a wider selection — and they tend to spend more money, he said.

The checkout is self-service. Customers punch in the dishes they chose on the touch screen and pay by card, ensuring that everyone's eating habits can be tracked and their responses to changes can be recorded. Flush on the floor at the checkout is a scale that records the customer's weight.

The lunchroom serves about 200 diners a day. Some 480 people registered for the project and gave their written consent to be monitored. Casual visitors are not part of the experiment.

MORE FROM WORLD BUSINESS

World business Section Front

Lackluster start for Iraq oil field auction China's economic recovery gathers steam Trade gap narrows unexpectedly in October Brown, Sarkozy: Tax financial bonuses more U.K. slaps 50 percent tax on bankers’ bonuses Chicken of the sea? Tuna farming gets a boost High earners may pay more for U.K. recovery Dubai World may sell assets to raise cash VW buys 49.9 percent stake in Porsche Kuwait sells Citigroup stake for $4.1 billion World business Section Front   Add World business headlines to your news reader: