Introduction:
Food is not only a biological necessity but also a powerful social symbol. Some foods embody the identity of entire cultures and bind people together, representing more than nourishment. For example, pasta is an iconic food of Italian culture that symbolises tradition and conviviality beyond its nutritional role. However, it is still unclear if the shared consumption of food can foster social connection among individuals.
Purpose:
Thus, this study investigates the potential of a shared consumption of food, specifically pasta, as an enhancer of social bonding from self-reported and neuroscientific perspectives, compared with other common shared experiences.
Method:
Forty healthy adults, divided into 20 dyads, participated in a within-subject experimental design with four randomized shared tasks: pasta consumption, collaborative board game, movie watching, and unstructured free interaction. Data acquisition integrated neuroscientific techniques, such as electroencephalography (EEG), heart rate (HR), and skin conductance (SC) to measure indices of emotional and cognitive engagement and neural synchrony, as well as self-report measures to measure perceived emotionality and sense of closeness.
Expected results:
We expect that the shared consumption of pasta would elicit significantly higher levels of emotional engagement compared with the other shared activities. We also expect that dyads would show higher levels of neural synchronization during this activity.
Conclusion:
This study aims to shed light on the social significance of a shared consumption of food. By comparing pasta consumption with other common interactive activities and integrating self-reported measures with neuroscientific indices of engagement and synchrony, we expect to provide novel evidence on the role of eating together in fostering social bonding. These findings may contribute to a better understanding of food as a catalyst for human connection and offer new perspectives for research in social neuroscience, psychology, and cultural studies.