In recent times, chocolate-themed desserts have taken centre stage, but if you ask me, there's nothing that says "Merry Christmas" more than a delicious gingerbread man. Pop culture has a couple of instances of the little guys coming to life and running amok in the town (Shrek 2, anyone?), but I like mine staying completely still, so I can gobble them up nice and easy.
But here's something we don't really talk about - how exactly do you eat a gingerbread man? It might sound like one of those things which doesn't matter, but research says you can tell a lot about a person from how they bite into that little gingerbread man.
In what must be one of the most fun studies to take part in, Dunkin' commissioned a study on the various eating techniques for a gingerbread man, asking over 500 people in a two-year period, and found out some pretty interesting stuff out. Let's dive right into it.
Of the respondents, there was a clear winner when it came to biting technique: most people, unlike Thor in Avengers: Infinity War (too soon?), went straight for the head. Cranium biting made for about 64 percent of the overall number of respondents, and that's indicative of a headstrong personality.
But don't take my word for it: instead, let's talk to an actual expert in gingerbread eating: Dr. Alan Hirsch, Neurological Director of Chicago's Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation. "If one chooses to bite the head first, it indicates an achievement-oriented individual, a natural leader, who won't take no for an answer," he explains, and you can kind of see where he's coming from.
Okay, so that's the most popular way to eat a gingerbread man - how else do people eat them? Well, next most popular, with 20 percent of respondents some people try to eat gingerbread men from the legs up, and this is apparently what sensitive people are likely to do - because they "revel in the company of others."
So if you don't eat the head or the legs, you definitely start with the arms, and that made up the remaining 16 percent of all people asked. But depending on the arm you choose, there's something wildly different about your personality traits. We'll let Dr Hirsch take it from here.
"If the initial bite is the right hand, it reflects an individual who tends to be skeptical and pessimistic, while those who initially bite the left arm have a flair for creativity and are more extroverted."
Well, there you have it, folks! I don't tend to think about gingerbread men in too much detail, but all this talk of biting has me really jonesing for a warm, fresh gingerbread man, don't you think? I'll be sure to pay close attention to where I bite first. I wonder what I'll go for in the moment.
Why don't you do the same?