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Ghrelin figures prominently in the regulation of appetite in normal‐weighed individuals. The apparent failure of this mechanism in eating disorders and the connection to addictive behavior in general demand a deeper understanding of the endogenous central‐nervous processes related to ghrelin. Thus, we investigated processing of pictures showing palatable food after overnight fasting and following a standardized caloric intake (i.e. a 75‐g oral glucose tolerance test) using functional magnetic resonance imaging and correlated it with blood plasma levels of ghrelin. Twenty‐six healthy female and male volunteers viewed food and control pictures in a block design and rated their appetite after each block. Fasting levels of ghrelin correlated positively with food‐cue reactivity in a bilateral network of visual processing‐, reward‐ and taste‐related regions, including limbic and paralimbic regions. Notably, among those …