Since the dawn of time, food has been a necessity of life. Eventually, it became an enjoyable necessity of life, as the Romans held private parties in which they entertained a small group of guests and served a feast filled with Roman specialties. Since then, food has become an emotional aspect of our lives. Certain foods, such as cakes and cookies, may create a pleasant experience for an individual, while other foods, such as vegetables and seafood, may create an unpleasant experience for an individual. Additionally, people may tend to eat a certain type of food or a certain amount of food depending on the emotional state they are in. It is also becoming increasingly evident in society that people tend to engage in unhealthy eating behaviors when experiencing negative emotions. , like sadness or anger. Despite what you might think, humans have a pretty strong emotional relationship with food. A person's emotional response to food can vary based on many different emotions; some pleasant and some unpleasant. In part of one study, participants were given a questionnaire to answer questions related to the emotions they felt in response to food (Desmet and Schifferstein, 2008). The questionnaire included a total of twenty-two emotions comprising an even number of eleven pleasant and eleven unpleasant emotions. In the questionnaire, the twenty-two emotions were judged on the appropriateness of feeling each emotion while eating or tasting food. Each emotion was rated on a five-point scale ranging from 1 meaning “never” (never feeling this emotion while eating or tasting food) to five meaning “very often” (feeling this emotion very often while eating or when tasting food) (Desmet and Schifferstein, 2008). As the results in the middle of the article......show how food and emotions relate to each other by showing us that although food can elicit a positive or negative emotional response, emotions can affect the responses from an individual. to food and their eating behaviors. And as long as food remains a necessity for living and surviving, we will always have an emotional connection to food. Works Cited Desmet, PM and Schifferstein, HN (2008). Sources of positive and negative emotions in the culinary experience. Appetite, 50(2-3), 290-301. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2007.08.003. Macht, M. (1999). Characteristics of eating in anger, fear, sadness and joy. Appetite, 33(1), 129-139. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/appe.1999.0236.Macht, M. and Mueller, J. (2007). Immediate effects of chocolate on experimentally induced mood states. Appetite, 49(3), 667-674. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2007.05.004.