The most satisfying food of all time

September 18, 2006 – 12:24 pm

by Rigel

There are all kinds of foods in the world- everything from widely used wheat and grains to rare delicacies like caviar. Then there are literally infinite combinations and recipes to combine all these foods into new and tasty creations like soup and cake. But which one is the best? Is there a best? The Satiety Index has been around for awhile, but I for one had never really taken a close look at what it was. Basically, scientists underwent an effort to determine a ranking system for foods to decide which foods satisfy the best, and compiled a list of which are the winners and which are the losers.

In order to measure something, there must be a starting point or baseline. The scientists creating the Satiety Index used white bread as theirs at a score of 100. So who was the winner? Potatoes- boiled potatoes specifically- with a score of 323. French fries, on the other hand, only scored 116. One thing they noticed when doing this study is that the same foods could score largely different based on how they were prepared, which means there isn’t any room for blanket statements such as “fruit is more satisfying than bakery products.” Although apples and oranges outranked all bakery items tested, bananas were beaten out by cookies and crackers. The least satisfying food? Croissants, scoring only 47.

I think this is super interesting- although not sure it will really affect my diet all that much. Unless, of course, if I’m having a croissant I might think ahead and have a snack handy for later!