When going out to eat, we never really realize how much other people have an impact on what we decide to eat and order at the restaurant. We often don’t even notice ourselves looking around and gazing at other peoples plates trying to see if what they’re eating will influence our decision.

This past weekend, I visited Boston with one of my closest friends. During our visit, we decided to go to a restaurant called Cafeteria. As soon as we sat down my friend started to stare at other peoples tables while simultaneously trying to read the menu. We sat there for approximately 15 minutes rereading the menu trying to come to a conclusion on what to order. After about the third time the waiter came over and asked if we were ready, we figured it was time to make a decision. However, our conclusion was in fact based on the table sitting next to us. We saw them order a spinach artichoke dip that looked delicious so we ended up ordering the same thing. I wouldn’t say that coming into the restaurant we thought to ourselves “lets order the spinach artichoke,” however seeing the table next to us indulge in such a deliciously looking meal made us crave it more than we thought we did.

This just shows that as much as we don’t acknowledge the fact that other peoples choices influence ours, they really do and to a high extent – even at places such as grocery stores. When we walk down the aisle and see someone pick up a box of cereal, we automatically start to look and walk in that direction. We may not pick up the same box as they did, however we are more inclined to look into that category of foods because we saw someone else do it. This sort of behavior may be considered a good and bad thing depending on how you look at it. If you are influenced by someone who makes nutritional food choices then that would be beneficial for you; however, if you follow someone who usually picks up high carb, high sugar, and high fat foods then you should try and change that behavior. It really is peculiar why other peoples choices have such a huge influence on our own.