New dating trend! ‘Foodie calls' turn dating apps into menus not matches; changing relationship goals

Dating in the digital age is evolving fast, and not always in the way you'd expect. Forget candlelit connections and heartfelt chats with today's new dating ritual, swiping right with one thing in mind: food. With inflation tightening wallets and brunch prices soaring, a cheeky new trend called the 'foodie call' is taking over
dating apps
. Instead of searching for love, many are hunting for their next free meal. Popular on TikTok and beyond, users openly admit to going on dates just to enjoy a good restaurant and no matching or compatibility required. It's dating with a side of strategy, and the internet can't stop talking about a new dating trend or a new foodie strategy?
Chemistry is replaced, cutlery kept and your wallet is paying the price.
Dating apps turn into free food platforms with 'foodie calls' on the rise
These apps that were once meant to bring about romantic relationships are being comparably joked about as DoorDash by those who use them to fill their bellies, rather than their hearts. A "
foodie call
" is when a person will accept a date for the purpose of getting a free meal, but with no plans to take things further in terms of a relationship, or even a second date.
According to the New York Post reports, South Carolina graphic designer Katheryne Slack admitted in an interview on MarketWatch that she asked a Hinge match out for coffee not due to interest, but because she was out at home. They hadn't talked in days, but when she could make it work, she met him at a coffee shop. "As soon as I met him, I knew I wasn't into him. But I was already there and needed my coffee," she said.
Social media reacts to new dating trend 'foodie call'
Social media has escalated the trend. Hilarious videos under hashtags such as #datingfordinner or #foodiecall feature young women ostentatiously documenting their dating lives, highlighting the number of free dinners they have received in a week.
In one of the viral videos, @jocelynaleenaa posted, "When you keep going on dates for the free food & drinks," while others cracked jokes about not having to do grocery shopping at all by making back-to-back dates a meal prep. In another video, a lady was dancing to the caption: "Off on my second date this week 'cause I can't be bothered to meal prep."
To others, it's a "budget hack" in times of economic uncertainty, even when it's a bit of a gray area morally.
Is it being smart or just selfish? What the research suggests
Although "foodie calls" may look like and feel like cheeky behavior, researchers contend there could be darker psychological tendencies involved. The journal
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
published a study in 2019 that reported that as many as 1 in 3 women acknowledged going out on dates for free food alone. More significantly, persons who habitually make such calls ranked higher in the "dark triad" traits of narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism. These are persons who usually take advantage of social situations and have no guilt for being deceitful.
When dating becomes a strategy for surviving city life
With rents that are through the roof and an endless roster of hip restaurants, urban areas such as New York have become breeding ground for "dinner dating." East Village resident Olivia Balsinger described dining on a five-course meal at the pricey Catch restaurant in the Meatpacking District that is all on her date's bill. "If I had had to pay," she confessed, "I probably wouldn't have been able to eat for weeks afterwards. Though the ritual may seem innocent or even sly in the view of some, others see it as emotional manipulation. The unaware date not only pays the bill but often ends up confused or disappointed, unaware they were never a romantic player in the first place.
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