Pastries Manipulate Feelings in Culinary Mind Control Experiment
A Portland bakery is under fire this week after customers discovered that their “Emotional Journey” cookie line has been triggering specific emotional responses through a combination of ingredient manipulation, subliminal messaging printed on edible paper, and what food scientists are calling “weaponized nostalgia.” The Mindful Baker on Hawthorne Street launched the product six months ago, marketing the cookies as “mood-enhancing treats,” but failed to mention they’re essentially edible emotion bombs that have left customers weeping into their lattes or feeling inexplicably confident during job interviews.
Owner Patricia Morrison developed the recipe after attending a workshop on “Culinary Psychology and Targeted Emotional Responses,” which should have been the first red flag. The cookies contain carefully calibrated combinations of mood-affecting ingredients like dark chocolate (releases endorphins), chamomile (calming), cayenne pepper (energizing), and something called “essence of contentment” that Morrison refuses to identify but tastes suspiciously like regular vanilla extract marked up 400%.
The mood cookie controversy erupted after customer Jennifer Walsh posted a viral TikTok showing herself eating a “Confidence Cookie” before a presentation and subsequently trying to negotiate her boss’s salary instead of her own. “I felt invincible,” Walsh explained. “I walked into that meeting ready to become CEO. I’m an intern. I made fifteen dollars an hour before that cookie, and afterward I thought I deserved equity.” The cookie’s effects wore off approximately forty-five minutes later, leaving Walsh deeply embarrassed and her boss deeply confused.
Other varieties have produced equally dramatic results. The “Nostalgia Cookie” contains ingredients designed to trigger childhood memories, but has been inadvertently making customers cry in public spaces as they remember everything from first crushes to deceased pets. One customer spent thirty minutes sobbing in a park, mourning a hamster from 1998. The “Zen Cookie” works almost too well, with several customers becoming so relaxed they fell asleep at their desks and woke up three hours later covered in crumbs.
Food safety regulators are investigating whether mood-altering cookies constitute a public health concern, though legal experts point out there’s surprisingly little legislation covering edible emotional manipulation. “The FDA regulates drugs, not feelings,” explained attorney Marcus Thompson. “If a cookie makes you cry about your childhood hamster, that’s technically just good baking.”
Morrison defends her creation, arguing that all food affects mood to some degree and she’s simply being more intentional about it. She’s refusing to remove the cookies from her menu but has added warning labels like “May cause inappropriate workplace confidence” and “Not responsible for emotional breakthroughs triggered by snickerdoodles.” Sales have actually increased since the controversy broke, with customers apparently eager to experience food-induced emotional manipulation. The bakery now has a waiting list, proving that people will literally pay to have their feelings toyed with by pastries. Welcome to the future of dessert, where sugar crashes are the least of your emotional concerns.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/bakery-mood-cookies-trigger-emotions/
SOURCE: Bohiney.com (https://bohiney.com/bakery-mood-cookies-trigger-emotions/)
