"Restaurant of the Future" is measuring what you eat

Put the same coffee in four mugs of different colors and ask people which is stronger. Men likely will point to the brown mug. Women are less likely to be fooled, Koster said.

For months, he said, customers bought milk from a vending machine. One day, the label was changed to indicate the milk was organic — prompting some people to comment that it tasted funny.

People eat more when food is served on a big plate, less on a small one.

Attitudes change when freshly cut flowers are on the table.

In a study published in the September-October issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Wageningen doctoral candidate Pascalle Weijzen reported that people who say they like healthy food often succumb to junk. Nearly 600 people were asked which snack they would pick among an apple, banana, a candy bar or a molasses waffle. A week later they actually were offered the choices — and 27 percent who claimed to prefer fruit scarfed the candy instead.

"This is a laboratory. We control all the conditions," Koster said. The prices, assortment, arrangement and presentation can be changed according to scientific need.

"But we still call it a restaurant," he said. "If we used the word 'laboratory,' it might influence behavior."