Seeing Cold, Eating Warm: Food Perception in Imaginative Storytelling and Immersive Virtual Reality Winter Contexts

Abstract

Food intake is a fundamental daily activity. Its relationship to external factors such as social and environmental contexts has been widely investigated in consumer studies. Virtual reality (VR) technology enables the realistic simulation of real-life conditions and, therefore, holds promise as an ecologically valid method for understanding eating intentions and behavior. This study examines whether contextual exposure to VR or text-based storytelling influences food liking and desire in alignment with the presented environment. A total of 117 participants, either online or in a laboratory setting, viewed and rated eight food items varying in calorie density while exposed to one of three conditions: a VR-simulated winter forest, a text-based storytelling winter forest, or a control group without winter cues. Accounting for individual characteristics such as eating habits and body mass index, the results showed that participants’ food perceptions —defined here as evaluative responses toward digitally presented food items—followed a similar pattern across both winter forest contexts, with a stronger desire and liking for high-calorie over low-calorie foods. However, the intensity of their perceptual responses varied significantly between conditions. Participants in the VR forest reported greater familiarity, liking, and desire for all food items, as well as a stronger sense of spatial presence, compared to those in the storytelling condition. While VR elicited heightened and more affective responses, both VR and storytelling seem to be useful interventions for assessing contextual effects on product consumption. These findings provide insights into how different modes of contextual presentation shape food perception and encourage the integration of multiple sensory modalities to further bridge the gap between virtual and real food experiences.