Here's a lesson for those hungry for romance: on a first date, you are what you are willing to eat.
Researchers have found that fussy eaters who avoid new foods are less likely to be thought sexually attractive.
“Food plays such an important role in dating,” Dr Hannah Bradshaw, of Washington and Jefferson College, in Pennsylvania, who led the study, said.
“Our results show that people make judgments about potential partners’ sexual desirability based on whether said partner is willing to try new food.”
Bradshaw and her colleagues ran tests to explore the links between a person’s gastronomic adventurousness and their perceived desirability, with the results published in Personality and Individual Differences.
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“Being unwilling to try new food may make one seem less sexually desirable and more prudish,” she said. “This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you’re on a date with someone you’re not that into, you could order something boring.”
Researchers carried out four experiments. In the first nearly 200 heterosexual participants were told a short story about a person of the opposite sex who was either eager or reluctant to eat a new food in a restaurant. If the person dug into an unfamiliar dish with gusto, they were rated as more desirable.
In the second study nearly 100 participants were shown two mock profiles for a dating website. The profiles were similar but differed on whether the person described themselves as being willing or reluctant to try new food.
The participants were asked to rate the person’s “sociosexual orientation” — defined as their willingness and tendency to engage in short-term, uncommitted sexual relationships — and their openness to new experiences. Scores for both were higher for those willing to try unusual dishes.
A third experiment, with 95 participants, was designed to examine whether there was something special about expressing an openness to new food, or whether being open to other kinds of new experiences had a similar effect.
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It included three profiles, a control profile, one describing the person as willing to try new food, but not other things, and another of someone who was willing to broaden their horizons such as with unfamiliar film genres, but reluctant to try new exotic foods.
The person described as willing to try new food but not other new things was rated as being less sexually inhibited. The effect was less pronounced for fussy eaters.
In a final study with 133 volunteers, participants were shown more mock dating profiles and asked what was different about those open to new cuisines. They were not thought to be healthier or stronger than fussy eaters, but they were judged to be more adventurous in bed.