A matter of taste

On her desk lay an apple next to a water glass and a tableau that said: "Look, everyone, my lifestyle is healthy!"

In the storeroom, though, out of sight of her co-workers, the woman had surreptitiously wolfed down some chips not long before. She had concealed her desire for unhealthy food to avoid uncomfortable questions.

This is one of many anecdotes collected by Rheingold, a Cologne-based market research institute, for a study on eating habits in Europe and the United States that it presented earlier this month in Cologne during Anuga, an international food and beverage trade show.