Shopping Without paying
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What is the “Food Never Comes” website and how does it work?
The Claire Byrne Show on News Talk. With Aviva Insurance.
Now to something. Really strange, right? You know the feeling, the great feeling after you buy yourself a treat. You've worked really hard, maybe you feel like you've earned a takeaway, the delightful feeling of scrolling the app, picking out really delicious things to eat. The new website. That lets you do all of that without ever paying a penny because the food never arrives. Here to tell me more is senior work and organizational psychologist Patricia Murray. This is mad now. This sounds mad to me. Just explain it. I've done my best, but you tell us what this thing is.
Okay. So basically it's a website designed by two Indian coders which is aimed at people who are are interested in food and in a culture where ordering food is high on the agenda. And basically it's called Food Never Comes, so it's pretty explicit. And it says, Are you hungry or are you not? It doesn't really matter. But basically you can order a range of food from twenty two different countries. You click all the things, the sides, the orders, the drinks, where Where you live, a fake an any numbers for your card, any numbers at all, and then it tracks the person delivering it, and then you get a little ping, the food is at your door.
Mm-hmm. But it's not
it never will be. It never will be. There's no food and there's no money. But it's hugely popular, is it? It's really popular in Asia. Now the thing is, just for listeners who are out there now probably thinking I'm going to put the kettle on, this is quite interesting because really we do some of these things in a different way and maybe not so ritualized because Th this particular site, which I I think is fascinating, and it's gonna make these guys money because it's getting their names out there, if nothing else. And they are they are, I suppose, a little bit taking a joke having a joke.
Why do people feel a dopamine hit from ordering food that never arrives?
But they're also feeding off the idea that we have of we like to purchase, we like to buy, we like to click, we like the ritual of buying online. And if you're a foodie and if you really like to look at food and look at pictures of food, this probably does does release some dopamine and give the people the wanting pleasure and the kind of the ritualized pleasure of of doing something. Now as as one of the commentators on it said Um I think it was the woman who wrote Dopamine Nation that it probably will only be something that someone might do six or seven times and talk to their friends about and it's become a kind of a zeitgeisty thing among the young people. It probably isn't something that's going to last a long time.
You don't actually need to buy the you don't need to spend the money because y are you getting e enough of a dopamine hit from just that action?
Yeah, the thing about dopamine is is it's not a reward chemical, it's a wanting chemical. So it's associated with anticipation. And and you're nearly going to get and that's why it's very associated with addiction. So sometimes for people, they just want to want. And the wanting is the pleasure. And scrolling through I mean, how many people scroll through daft and look at properties they're never going to buy or visit or have anything to do with, but they like the idea, the imaginary trip into that house and who they'll be if they have that house. Same with the travel site in January. You know, years ago it was holiday brochures that people People look through when they were going nowhere, apart from maybe Terman Feckin if they're lucky.
And suddenly they're looking at budget on Sunday and they're queuing up for brochures. So like this idea that we like to imagine ourselves in better scenarios is already there. I mean the cat is out of that bag. I mean the And this is just taking that further. It's saying that you know you can vicariously eat the butter chicken and have the biryani and also the site does actually send you the recipe for what you've ordered. So there is a little What I would like to know is and I have tried to find out is You know, is there a disappointment then at the end?
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the “Food Never Comes” website and how does it work?
0:01–1:41
2
Why do people feel a dopamine hit from ordering food that never arrives?
1:41–4:00
3
How does the ritual of virtual ordering compare to watching cook‑ery shows?
4:00–5:53
4
Can the “wanting” pleasure of clicking “order” be addictive?
5:53–7:41
5
What psychological benefits might a fake‑order site offer to food‑addiction sufferers?
7:41–8:20
6
Could the same “no‑delivery” concept work for clothing or travel bookings?
8:20–9:02
7
How does the “wanting” vs. “having” stream affect satisfaction with online purchases?
9:02–9:19