How You Taste Food Changes When You’re in a Relationship

It’s no secret that people change when they’re in a relationship. Being close to someone makes you alter your behavior, daily patterns, and even habits. And there’s no shortage of research hinting at the fact that couples become increasingly similar throughout a relationship — some even say couples start looking alike.

Now, a new study published in the journal Appetite has unearthed a thing or two about the dining habits of couples.

Researchers from Poland and Germany looked at 100 couples and tested their smell and taste preferences, Time reports. Some couples were as new as three months old, while others were going up to 45 years strong.

The couples smelled different scents — eucalyptus, smoked meat, rose — and rated them. They also had various flavors sprayed on their tongues like sweet, salty, and even bitter. Their findings? The longer a couple was together, the more similar their smell and taste preferences were.

The team can’t say for sure why this phenomenon (couples liking similar scents and flavors) was observed, but they have a hunch: It may have a thing or two to do with sharing a common environment. “Shared environment and habits, and consequently exposure to similar olfactory and gustatory stimuli, might together shape similar preferences in both partners,” the researchers write.

It could also be a variety of other things: Maybe people settle down with partners with similar taste and smell preferences, or maybe there’s a biological reason. To find the answer, more research is required. But for the time being, know that couples who stay together often end up with similar dietary preferences.