Daters, beware: the “foodie call” trend is on the rise. This is when someone agrees to go on a date, not out of genuine romantic interest, but simply to enjoy a nice (often free) meal. Sometimes, both people quickly realize there’s no real spark, but at least one of them stays for the food, and possibly the perks of someone else picking up the tab.
Back in 2019, a guest on The Tamron Hall Show admitted to going on around 100 dates and confessed that about a quarter of them were purely for the love of good food.
“I’m trying to find my husband, but I’m also trying to eat. I got like a ramen budget and like an oyster appetite,” she told Hall.
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When Hall asked why she embraced the “foodie call” lifestyle, the woman explained that if a man invited her to a nice restaurant, she wasn’t going to say no, especially since many of those spots were places she couldn’t afford to dine on her own.
This single woman isn’t the only one with a foodie-call mindset.
Katheryne Slack, a graphic designer from South Carolina, shared with MarketWatch that one Sunday morning, after realizing she was out of coffee, she decided to answer a Hinge message from a guy she’d previously chatted with, not for romance, but for a caffeine fix.
They had exchanged messages earlier in the week, but scheduling conflicts had stalled any plans. With the timing finally right, they agreed to meet up at a coffee shop in West Columbia, where they both live.
“As soon as I met him, I knew I wasn’t into him. But I was already there and needed my coffee,” Slack told MarketWatch on June 10. “Plus, I like to be optimistic: Maybe he would do or say something sweet and charming, and my mind could change.”
After some light conversation over coffee and a breakfast sandwich, it became clear there was no spark. So he paid, and they both left. Later, when Slack opened the app to send a polite thank you message, she found his profile had disappeared. Still, she wasn’t disappointed. She got a free coffee and sandwich out of the date—mission accomplished.
“I think he must have unmatched me from Hinge as soon as he left the shop,” she said. “The way I see it, I only wasted an hour of my time for a coffee and a breakfast sandwich. So, oh well.”
So, was it harmless? Maybe. But there’s more to consider.
With food prices rising, it might seem like no big deal to accept a date just for the free meal, but be careful about the message you’re sending. A 2019 study published in the Journal of Social Psychology and Social Personality Science examined the “foodie call” phenomenon more closely and found that nearly one in three women admitted to going on dates primarily for the free food.
But here’s the kicker: the study also found that those who engage in this behavior are more likely to display traits associated with the “dark triad”—narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. In other words, routinely using others for personal gain, even in subtle ways like dating for dinner, could be a red flag about deeper personality tendencies.
So while scoring a free meal might feel harmless in the moment, it could be saying more about you than you realize.
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