Influence of ecologic events on cafeteria food selections: understanding food habits.

Our data confirm that, in terms of eating, people are creatures of habit. Most food selections in an employee cafeteria showed remarkable stability across time, appearing relatively immune to such naturalistic changes as seasons, outdoor temperature, and day of the week. A rew seasonal variations were observed, but these resulted largely from changes in food availability. A tendency for lower calorie food selection was observed during late spring and the summer months. This finding should caution researchers, when evaluating any public health intervention program designed to reduce caloric consumption which is conducted during the spring-summer time period. An inventory control cash register system provides a promising methodology for conducting public health field experiments on food selection. Daily information on food purchases allows food selections of large population groups to be intensively scrutinized. This methodology can be readily applied to improve our understanding of the process of food selection in public and to evaluate ways of promoting healthy eating habits.