The Real Reason Restaurant Food Tastes Better, According To Anthony Bourdain

It has been long noted that restaurant food just always seems to taste better. Whether it be the seasonings that chefs add or the sauces they use, something about restaurant food seems to warm the hearts of people across the world. The late chef and TV personality, Anthony Bourdain, happened to agree with this sentiment and even came up with a reason as to why that is. According to the No Reservations host, butter is the ingredient that takes restaurant food over the edge, per Money Versed. 

Bourdain notes that butter can be found in everything, especially the delicious sauces you'll find on most dishes. He asserts that every worthy restaurant meal has at least one stick of butter in it and notes "that's why restaurant food tastes better than home food." The late-seasoned chef explains that butter helps mellow out and emulsify sauces so that they reach "that restaurant sheen and emulsified consistency" that folks everywhere have come to love. But, why exactly do people love butter? What is it about butter that makes literally everything (not just sauces) taste better?

According to Bulletproof, our brains and bodies have evolved to seek out foods that have a higher fat count. This comes into play in two ways — the body's emotional need for fatty foods and its physical need for fatty foods. When young, most people see things like desserts and other fatty foods as a treat. This teaches and trains the brain to release dopamine every time you grab a cupcake or chocolate bar. So when folks eat something like a layered cake (which is comprised of about 80 percent fat, per Bon Appétit), their brains are essentially flooded with the feel-good chemical (folks are in essence Pavloving themselves). 

Another way fatty foods like butter interact with the body is that it makes the body feel fuller. Bulletproof asserts that bodies evolved to seek out fattier meals because of this. When breaking down fatty foods, the digestive tract moves much slower because it needs to use different mechanisms to break them down — adding to the fact that folks will feel fuller longer. As this process is happening, the brain is getting little messages telling it that it needs to not eat, which is why so many people feel so full after downing a buttery sauced pasta dish.