Eating steak is a symbol of pent up anger, gorging on crisps means you are stressed and filling up on cakes is a sure-fire sign that you are sexually frustrated.
When it comes to betraying mood, it seems, you are what you eat.
A study has found that a person's choice of food is dictated by their state of mind and diners apparently seek out particular dishes to regulate how they feel.
Angry people turn to chewy foods while the sexually frustrated crave carbohydrate-rich biscuits and cakes.
Those under stress reach for salty snacks while people going through crises such as divorce tend to revert to the foods of childhood such as custard and ice cream.
Jealous people, meanwhile, often
stack their plates indiscriminately - a consequence of having had to compete with siblings at the dinner table in childhood, say researchers.
The findings are the result of a U.S. study of the eating habits of 500 people who kept diaries about their choices of meals.
Carried out as part of a study of addiction, it is thought to be the first to link individual foods with particular states of mind.
Cynthia Power, the Illinois-based psychotherapist behind the survey, said: 'Food can be used to change feelings the person doesn't want to have.
'Only hard, crunchy mastication will suffice when someone needs to take out their anger. No amount of cottage cheese will do it but a steak might.
'Alternatively, loneliness is artificially assuaged with bulky, fillupthe stomach foods.'
The study found that people going through crises enjoyed custard and ice cream because they were 'seeking comfort levels with foods they once found in childhood'.
Previous studies have determined that carbohydrates can increase levels of the mood hormone serotonin in the blood.
This was born out in the study, which found that sexually frustrated people sought out foods such as crackers, cakes and bread to fill the stomach quickly.
Those who were stressed chose salty snacks such as crisps because adrenal glands, which produce the stress hormone adrenaline, often send out salt-craving signals, according to the study.
Chef and restaurateur Raymond Blanc said he had noticed that his fiancee, Natalia Traxel, had a tendency to chomp on a crusty baguette when she was angry.
'There is something about the way you eat big chunky food which can express your mood,' he said. 'Movements are quite muscular and fast, which is physically quite expressive.'
Tom Sanders, professor of nutrition and diet at King's College, London, said: 'The strongest links with eating come with sweet and tasty foods and is particularly true in women who seek solace in chocolate and cake when depressed.
'It is less true for men who will be more likely to turn to alcohol. 'It is also the case that depressed people go off their food and lose a great deal of weight.
Mood foods: you really are what you eat.
I crave steak almost daily.
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