UNITED STATES, July 6, 2012 (MSNBC): Is it a dealbreaker if your partner skips the bacon in favor of tofu? For some meat eaters, that’s exactly the case. The recent Love Bites survey of 4,000 singles conducted by TODAY.com and Match.com found that nearly 30 percent of meat eaters say they would not date a vegetarian or vegan.
Writer and omnivore J. Federer told TODAY.com that while he agrees couples should have interests outside the relationship, food is one thing that should be shared. “Food is social, and the dinner table is where a couple gets back together after a day of work or play,” he wrote in an email. “This is where the relationship happens. The ability to provide and share food is part of romance, and I just can’t date a person who does not share those moments of life with me.”
While vegetarians get a bad rap, according to our survey, they are much less picky about who they date. Only 4 percent said that they wouldn’t date meat eaters – after all, only 3.2 percent of Americans say they are vegetarian and half a percent say they are vegan, which makes for a pretty small dating pool.
Changing your partner shouldn’t be the goal, and their choices should be respected, said Dr. Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist and Match.com’s chief scientific adviser. Flexibility is the key to making a relationship work when there are dietary restrictions, and 70 percent of our meat-lovin’ respondents are willing to put in the effort. “The ability to accommodate to needs of a new partner is really important – both people have to work at it,” she said. “The vegetarian has to send the message that they can work around it, they can find or bring alternatives to barbecues or family gatherings, and the meat eater has to be willing to bend once in a while as well.”