Photo: TikTok
Is it a trick or is it a way of asking for exactly what you want?
By Alexandra Blogier — Written on May 31, 2023
The trials and tribulations of online dating have been well-documented, yet sometimes there’s a silver lining in the anonymity people have while using the apps. Dating apps allow people to share as much or as little of themselves as they want, and some women have decided to use the apps to feed their hunger— literally.
One woman documented how she uses dating apps to get men to send her free food without meeting them.
Jo, whose TikTok profile claims she’s “documenting [her] early 20s,” offered single women a way to get free food from men on Tinder. Jo reposted a TikTok from a woman named Angelica, who titled her post “How to get free meals by using Tinder.”
Photo: TikTok
Angelica’s free food life hack uses Tinder as a way to find men who will buy her food without meeting up.
“Make this your bio,” Angelica explains, showing her own Tinder bio as an example. Her “About Me” section states, “Super like me if you’ll send me sushi without ever meeting me, lol.” She advises followers on TikTok to “Replace sushi with whatever you want,” in order for people who are both hungry and single to get their food of choice.
She guides Tinder users through the steps she takes to get men to buy her food without having to meet them in person, including the guidance “Only reply to messages that mention sending you food.” She shows a screenshot of a conversation between herself and a man named Timothy, who started the conversation by saying, “I sadly can’t super like but I’ll get you some sushi no problem.”
Angelica tells followers, “Send them your number so they can add it to your order, lol,” advice that doesn’t appear to place safety at the forefront, although if someone is comfortable sharing their number with a stranger to get free food, more power to them.
In asking men to send free food via Tinder, women are using dating apps to get exactly what they want.
To show that the interaction isn’t necessarily purely transactional, Angelica tells Tinder users to “Ask them a couple of questions about their day and then ask for your food, lmao.”
“Get your food. Enjoy!” Read Angelica’s last post.
Jo posted her own sushi feast on TikTok, along with the words, “It works!” She captioned her post, “The best sushi is free sushi.”
While it wouldn’t be surprising for these women to get dragged online by men who feel taken advantage of or used financially, Angelica didn’t make any promises to meet up in person, nor did she string anyone along. She was direct in her communication style and clear about what she wanted— free sushi from men on dating apps.
The women engaging in the act of asking for free food from men on apps aren’t advertising falsely; they’re not lying or leading people on. They made a request for something to be gifted to them and certain men responded. It could be viewed as a small act of rebellion in a society where women earn an average of 82% of what men earn, according to the Pew Research Center. Or it could be viewed as what it is—asking directly for what you want and then receiving it.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers celebrity gossip, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry.