Popularized by comedian Aziz Ansari, the term ‘foodie call’ occurs when someone goes on a date with a person they’re not romantically interested in purely for gastronomical purposes.

Image via Giphy

Basically, you’re hungry and you’ll tolerate someone you don’t really care about for a free meal.

Image via Tenor

Have you ever went on a painful date just to score some gratis good grub?

New research from the Social Psychological and Personality Science Journal has found that 23 to 33% of the women they surveyed (840 & 327 sample size in the U.S.) engaged in ‘foodie calls.’

Image via Wikipedia

The studies asked a series of questions to measure personality traits, beliefs about gender roles, and their own propensity for ‘foodie calls’. Those who did search out free meals scored higher in the ‘dark triad’ of personality traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) than those who didn’t. Considering that narcissists love themselves, Machiavellianists are masters of manipulation, and psychopaths lack a strong moral compass, that makes sense.

Image via Giphy

It goes without saying that while most of those surveyed thought ‘foodie calls’ were moderately to extremely unacceptable, those who did utilize the foodie call thought they were A-OK.

Now while this study isn’t definitive proof of anything (small sample size in just one country), it’s definitely an interesting topic to think about.

How about you? What do you think about ‘foodie calls?’ Have you ever made the call for some food? We think Hakkasan’s roast duck might do the trick for us.