Why Choosing What to Eat is so Difficult

And what makes little choices matter.

Photo by Natalia Mok on Unsplash

I’ve been there. You’ve been there. We’ve all been there at some point or another. Picture this: It’s lunchtime at your office. You look up from your work to see if anyone else is about to make a move for lunch. A handful of regular lunch buddies get up and you decide to go along with them. As you all gather by the lobby waiting for the elevator to arrive, one of you throws out the question that leaves everyone in a cold sweat: “So what’s for lunch?” or “Where do we eat?” Everyone stands in silence, waiting for some else to answer but everyone is busy thinking, or at least faking it.

Why is it so hard to choose what to eat?

Economics can help to explain why we face such difficulties.

1. We have limited resources
   Because you only have a handful of resources to allocate (perhaps a modest lunch budget and a limited lunch break), you have to make a choice. Even if you were told you had an extravagant budget and a three-hour lunch, you would still be limited by how much you can eat. So you would still have to choose where or what you’d like to spend your time, money and stomach space on.
2. We want to maximize value
   When I say maximize value, I don’t necessarily mean bang for buck. If getting as much food for as cheap as…