"Naughty but nice": interactions between cultural norms and material preferences

Choices among foods and drinks are influenced by both sensory and social factors, against a background of somatic factors also. The influence of sensory factors defines our personal "taste" in foodstuffs. Social factors include culturally derived personal beliefs about the healthfulness and other attributes of the comestibles. Those material preferences interact with these cultural norms within our minds as we decide what to eat and drink. These two sorts of influence may point in the same direction or they may conflict. In either case, to enable everyday food choices, beliefs and values about health have to be cognitively integrated with sensual pleasure and displeasure in some fashion. What we need, then, are some hard facts on what is actually going on in any person's mind as that individual makes choices among foods and drinks.