Rise of the ‘Foodie Call’ - up to one third of women date to get a free meal
Up to a third of women say they have dated a man simply to enjoy a free meal, a phenomenon known as a ‘foodie call’. Unlike the ‘bootie call’, in which singletons date only for sex, researchers at
Azusa Pacific University in the US found a surprisingly large number of women are not interested in a relationship but just want dinner.
In their first study, 820 women were recruited, who measured on their personality traits, beliefs about gender roles, and their ‘foodie call’ history. They were also asked if they thought a foodie call was socially acceptable.
Just under one quarter of women said they had engaged in a foodie call, with most saying they did so occasionally or rarely. Although women who had engaged in a foodie call believed it was more acceptable, most women believed it was extremely to moderately unacceptable.
The second study analyzed a similar set of questions of 357 heterosexual women and found 33 per cent had engaged in a foodie call.
The researchers also found that women who scored high on the "dark triad" of personality traits - psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism - were most likely to engage in a foodie call and find it acceptable.
"Several dark traits have been linked to deceptive and exploitative behavior in romantic relationships, such as one-night stands, faking an orgasm, or sending unsolicited sexual pictures," said social psychologist Dr Brian Collisson.
And the team believes the prevalence of ‘foodie calls’ could be even higher than reported.
