Would You Give This Up For Love?
Willing to make a culinary sacrifice? How to date with food preferences and allergies in tow.
Candlelight, red wine, freshly made pasta. Flirting at a small table in a corner infrequently visited by the waiter. Such are the makings of a great date.
But not if you can't eat what they're serving. What if you must start with a 10-minute interrogation: Can the scaloppini be prepared without a dusting of flour? Can I forgo the bed of pasta and just have the red pepper salmon? Does the chef use anything to thicken the risotto? Embarrassing. Your waiter takes a few trips to the kitchen to speak with the chef, and your date progresses in fits in starts. And—let's be honest—you might seem a little high-maintenance (think Sally Albright, the picky heroine who ordered everything on the side in the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally).
However, if you have Celiac Disease–a condition where the immune system reacts negatively to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye–your questions aren't a matter of preference. You must avoid the flour and pasta! Even if you aren't a vegetarian or vegan or suffer from an intolerance or allergy, chances are at some point you'll dine out with someone who is. In these situations, how do relationships fare?
Animal House
When 28-year-old New Yorker Erin clicked on 30-year-old David's online dating profile, what she found was intriguing: he was a vegan. "I love food. I found it admirable that someone could choose to live such a restrictive lifestyle for the benefit of the planet," she explains. Love blossomed as the two began to date, as did Erin's initial interest in "converting." "David introduced me to all kinds of food I've never tried," she says. "Initially, it seemed like there were limitless possibilities." Until, of course, they had hit all of the eight vegan restaurants in the city—twice. Then things felt a little limiting. "Eating out became kind of a pain, and eating in required quite a bit a prep work in the kitchen—unless we wanted to eat rice pasta every night," she adds.
Eventually, Erin began craving her old diet, and the love began to wane, as well. Turns out, Erin wasn't cut out to live a vegan lifestyle—or date someone who did. "We weren't a perfect match on a larger scale, but it did become a point of contention—that we were bound by this diet," she says. Eventually Erin and David parted ways, and Erin found herself a traditional meat-and-potatoes man.
So does that mean we can only date within our own food circles? While Erin and her ex didn't make it, plenty of couples do.
Discussion
No one needs to change there eating habits for a loved one. That is not LOVE.
i really like the article like everything else in america it's all image! look at the stats and what love has cost people! we are too greedy emotionally and financially to have a good healthy relationship! it's just that noone wants to see the big elephant in the room! oh and by the way i have giving something up for love two houses and alot of money she thought she deserved but did'nt earn come on girls if you want to be equeal be equeal cause if she had of earned it and i was asking for half she would have choked the judge!!!
One of my best friends has celiacs--- her parents actually both have it so I guess they were dating within their food circles. It's not really that big of a problem for her though -- mexican food is usually safe, as is many chinese dishes. She dates whoever she wants!
my brother is married to a girl who can't digest meat because of an enzyme problem, but he still does. In fact the smell of meat can make her stick to her stomach. But she doesn't stop him. He just eats a lot less and he is the one who cooks. They are making it work really well. She doesn't get mad when he orders a giant steak and he makes her food with no meat. They are adorable.
I guess I don't know why most of the people profiled had to eat the same as their SO.
