He showed the words chocolate cake” to a group of Americans and recorded their word associations. Guilt” was the top response. If that strikes you as unexceptional, consider the response of French eaters to the same prompt: celebration.

Pollan contrasts American and French cultural attitudes toward indulgent food to illustrate how moralizing eating can shape experience. In the American response, “chocolate cake” triggers guilt—suggesting a framework of dietary virtue, self-control, and transgression. The French association, “celebration,” implies a more communal, pleasure-affirming view in which rich foods are integrated into social ritual rather than treated as a personal failure. The comparison supports Pollan’s broader critique of nutritionism and diet culture: when food is framed primarily as a health problem or moral test, it can generate anxiety and shame, whereas a tradition that normalizes pleasure and occasion may foster a healthier relationship to eating.