When Food Equals Love
It was the usual Friday afternoon Internet surf — half an hour spent scouring blogs trying to track down some new recipes. As I scrolled down the Eater page, a banner ad on the right side caught my attention — impressive, given my usual blindness to anything that looks like advertising — "Eater Dating."
A site completely devoted to online dating for foodies?
Yes.
I cringe and marvel at the idea all at once. As it turns out, Eater Dating is the brainchild of bar and restaurant site Eater and the online dating site How About We... The difference from regular online matchmaking services? How About We is all based on suggesting an intriguing first date, which fits well if you're trying to find someone that's just as food obsessed as you are. Imagine the possibilities:
"How about we try the new food cart?"
"How about we drink bourbon out of mason jars?"
"How about we get wheatgrass smoothies and then hit up the tempeh reuben joint?"
"How about we buy some fennel and make our own sea salt shortbread?"
"How about we cure our own pork in our kitchen pantry and live happily ever after?"
I'll stop there, since "Pick up Lines for Foodies" is a whole other column waiting to happen.
The crossover between food and love isn't new. Jamie Oliver has his own dating site, in collaboration with Match.com. Even OkCupid has a foodie test, because god forbid you put "foodie" on your online profile and don't actually fit the correct description. (The fact that you actually have never purchased artisan cheese at the market would be so disappointing to your future beau.)
A good friend of mine immediately insisted that I join Eater Dating, just so that I could report from the trenches; turn Foodie Underground into Foodie Love Underground. No, thank you. Online dating mixed with self-professed food snobs? That sounds almost worse than cupcakes.
Ultimately, food can be sexy, but dating the foodie crowd? You can only take so many discussions about the merits of sparkling water and urban wineries. As Felicity Cloake of The Guardian put it, "Does a foodie really need another foodie to be happy?"
I am not so sure.
George Bernard Shaw once said, "There is no love sincerer than the love of food." If there are two of you with a love for food, there may not be so much room for the actual love part. And by that same token, if you're in the business of dating, and you're schmoozing foodies, you better know what you're getting yourself into.
Click here for more Internet Dating Options for Foodies.
— Anna Brones, EcoSalon
More From EcoSalon:
• When Food Trends Go Wrong: Bone Luging
• Why Travel Teaches Us to Appreciate Good Food