From buttered toast to bowls of pasta, beige foods are often dismissed as bland or unhealthy. Across social media, wellness culture increasingly frames colourful, protein-packed meals as the ideal, whilst foods associated with comfort or familiarity are dismissed as lazy eating.
But according to health psychologist Jane Ogden, the appeal of ‘beige foods’ has far less to do with laziness than many people assume. Instead, our attachment to foods such as chips, pasta, crisps or bread is deeply tied to psychology, nostalgia and emotional regulation.
Why familiar foods feel comforting
People often turn towards familiar foods during periods of stress, exhaustion or emotional overwhelm. Whilst carbohydrates may have some biologically calming effects, Ogden believes the strongest explanation is psychological rather than nutritional.
“From the moment we are born we learn to associate certain foods with emotional regulation,” she says. “Through modelling we watch others eat these foods for comfort and learn to do likewise.”
Over time, foods become attached to emotions, routines and memories. Treats after school, snacks during difficult moments or meals associated with family comfort can all shape the way people emotionally respond to food later in life.
As adults, this means certain foods can begin to function as a form of emotional safety.
The psychology of ‘safe foods’
Part of what makes beige foods feel comforting is their predictability. Foods with familiar textures, flavours and appearences can feel reassuring during stressful periods because they reduce uncertainty,
“If a food is familiar to us then it can help us keep calm and manage stress,” Ogden says. “If it is new then it can generate feelings of anxiety and concern.”
This idea helps explain why people often crave plain or familiar meals when emotionally overwhelmed. During periods of stress, the brain tends to prioritise certainty and comfort over novelty or experimentation.
Importantly, these ‘safe foods’ vary across cultures and individuals. What feels comforting to one person may feel unfamiliar to another. However, the underlying psychological process remains similar; people will tend to seek foods that already carry emotional familiarity.
Childhood also plays a big role in shaping these preferences. According to Ogden, many of the beliefs people hold about food are learnt early in life through reward systems, repetition and emotional association.
“We are shaped massively by our childhoods when it comes to our beliefs about foods,” she explains. “This is also added to by a sense of nostalgia for our childhoods which can add an extra layer of feelings of safety and familiarity.
Why wellness culture judges beige food
Despite the emotional connection, comfort foods are often heavily criticised online. Beige food has increasingly become the blueprint for unhealthy eating, particularly within spaces that promote ‘clean eating’ and food optimisation.
Ogden argues this reflects a much broader pattern within diet culture.
“Over the past 50 years the diet and wellness industries have picked on different types of foods to demonise,” she says. “We’ve demonised fats, carbohydrates and sugar.”
According to Ogden, beige foods are simply the latest target in a cycle of nutritional moralising that often reduces health into simplistic categories of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods.
“In reality no one food type is all bad and no one food type is all good,” she says. “The boring reality is that moderation in all things is best – but this doesn’t make headlines or sell products.”
She also warns that extremely rigid approaches to healthy eating can sometimes border on orthorexia, an unhealthy obsession with eating ‘correctly’.
So can comfort food actually help?
Comfort foods can genuinely help regulate emotion, at least for a short period of time, because people learn to associate them with feelings of reward, calmness and care.
“Yes they can help us manage emotions because we have learnt to make the association between certain foods and how we feel,” Ogden says.
However, she notes that these foods can sometimes create a rebound effect if eating them is followed by guilt or shame, particularly in cultures where certain foods are heavily judged.
Essentially, the psychology behind comfort eating reveals that food is rarely just fuel. The meals people crave during stressful periods are often tied to memory, familiarity and emotional experience as much as hunger itself.
And whilst wellness culture may continue to criticise ‘beige foods’, their appeal shows something very human; in uncertain moments, people often search for comfort in what already feels safe.
Want to read more about why certain foods bring comfort? Click here
