Signs You're Dating a Foodie

The beginning of a new relationship is an exhilarating time as you and your date slowly learn more about each other, deciding whether you're truly compatible. It's during this time when certain suspicious details may come to light. Maybe they use words like "umami," or maybe they have a bunch of weird gadgets in their kitchen. Whatever provokes your suspicion, it's imperative for you to maintain vigilant for any other signs you're dating a foodie.

Their social media is dominated by food videos.

At the beginning of a relationship, it's common to wait until after the first few dates before you connect on social media. Once you get that Facebook friend request and embark on the customary light stalking that comes with that territory, you may come across a page positively dominated by "Tasty" videos and recipes in gif form. This is one of the earliest signs you're dating a foodie. You may notice the recipes are extremely impractical, despite claims to the contrary like "One Pot Vegan Pasta" or "Easy Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs." The more outlandish the recipes, the more likely you just started dating a foodie. These meals will almost always look disgusting, but you needn't worry: Nobody ever actually cooks any of the recipes from these gifs.

Grocery shopping is their favorite date night.

For most people, grocery shopping is an undesirable chore. Not unlike laundry or doing the dishes, it is something to be endured, not savored. Such is not that case for the culinary enthusiasts of the world. Foodies love grocery shopping, as every trip to the store represents an opportunity to explore new and exciting culinary realms. You might be dating a foodie if your grocery trips suddenly double or triple in length, as they stop to sample the cheeses, explore the international foods aisles, and have long conversations with the butcher. If you don't understand the fascination, it's best just to wait patiently and trust, or hope, that the resulting meal will be tasty enough to make up for it.

Food trucks have become part of your life.

What was once a niche, independent, and casual dining option for blue collar communities has become a cultural phenomenon. The number of food trucks in the world, and especially in the United States, has exploded, with new concepts appearing practically daily. The food truck phenomenon has also inspired TV shows and movies, cementing it as a symbol of this generation's food culture. For most people, food trucks are still desired more for their convenience than anything else. If you find your partner dragging you out of your way to visit every food truck you can find, from pizza burgers to Korean burritos, well, let's just say it's time to keep an eye out for other signs you're dating a foodie.

You can't remember the last time you had fast food.

Love 'em or hate 'em, foodies have done wonders at pulling us out of fast food culture. Fast food restaurants like Wendy's and Burger King aren't just a nuisance for accelerating the proliferation of obesity and diabetes, they've been a plague against the traditional food cultures of the world. No amount of social media savvy can excuse them from that affront. Now, as far as health is concerned, I'm not sure fatty beef brisket from a barbecue food truck or five-course pasta dinners from a Michelin-starred restaurant are really much healthier than a fast food burger; but still, if you cannot remember the last time you bit into a Big Mac, you're probably dating a foodie.

No more quick dinners at chain restaurants.

For most normal people, having dinner at a restaurant is a great way to save some time in your evening. Instead of cooking from scratch at home, just stop by Chili's or Red Lobster for a quick meal. You get an edible meal in no time and you don't have to do dishes afterward. What could be better? Of course, this scenario is entirely foreign to foodies. Foodies love to eat out, but always at different places and never at a chain restaurant. If you've begun to notice signs you're dating a foodie, it's time to accept that quick, easy dinners are no longer an option for you. Sooner rather than later you will be receiving text messages informing you of the best food festivals in every state, and which one you'll be attending. Your only chance at seeing the inside of a chain restaurant again is if your partner gets a nostalgic craving for the chicken crispers at Chili's.

Picking a restaurant takes longer than cooking for yourself.

On nights that you want to eat out, there is at least an hour long process of hemming and hawing before a decision can be made on where you go to eat. First, you must narrow down the genre of food: Are you in the mood for something Mediterranean? Tapas? Pho? Once you get that settled, thenthere's the whole matter of figuring out exactly where you want to go. This can especially be a problem if you live near a large metropolitan area like Los Angeles or Brooklyn, which are both teeming with restaurants. And the fun doesn't stop there! Once you finally arrive at your destination, there's invariably a crowd and an ungodly wait time. In most cases though, you are usually so hungry by this point, you have no choice but to see it through, and sometimes the food is even worth it!

Cooking takes up most of your evening.

If you're dating a foodie, you're likely used to eating out at different places all the time. Just because foodies love to eat at new restaurants doesn't mean they don't eat in from time to time. In fact, a true foodie loves cooking almost as much as they love eating! For better or worse, this means you are now a sous chef working directly under your foodie love interest. Your evening activities will now often consist of picking out and putting together recipes and ingredients to create lavish meals in the comfort of your own studio apartment. You'll be wise to invest in a new cutting board because you're going to be spending a lotof time doing prep work. Those carrots aren't going to julienne themselves!

Every TV show you watch is from the Food Network.

Culinary television programming has been experiencing a huge boom lately, and might be partially to blame for the rising epidemic of foodies across the globe. If you've recently begun dating a foodie, prepare to witness just how much foodies love the Food Network. Often, your foodie will toss out an observation like, "this new show is just another Chopped clone," or, "I've already seen this episode of Iron Chef five times," but none of these complaints are ever egregious enough to make them actually change the channel. The only lapse in Food Network's dominance is the occasional Travel Channel binge, where you'll watch Bizarre Foods and lie to yourselves about how you'd totally try that menudo that Andrew Zimmern is eating.

All your money has mysteriously turned into food.

One of the saddest signs you're dating a foodie is a sudden decrease in your spending money. Sure, there are several ways to be a foodie when you're broke, but destination restaurants are sure to be overpriced, especially in exotic or touristy locations. Even restaurants that were once "working class," like food trucks or hole-in-the-wall joints, have incurred a premium now that they are in vogue. You may think you can avoid some of the expenses of dating a foodie by limiting how often you go out to eat, but you would be oh, so wrong. Foodies love cooking at home almost as much as they love to eat out, but the ingredients they need to cook with aren't any cheaper. In fact, you may find yourself spending more money just trying to get all the weird, exotic ingredients for the latest recipe of Chrissy Teigen's cookbook. Have you ever realized how expensive duck breast is? And no, the pine nut garnish is notoptional!

You find yourself catching the bug.

Ultimately, it's inevitable that if you keep dating your foodie, you'll eventually become one too. Whether it's the discovery of a new and exciting cuisine, or the feeling of tranquility you get when you spend an hour dicing vegetables, something inside of you will click. You won't be able to help yourself from scouring the internet for gift ideas for the foodie in your life. You'll realize the only thing better than dating a foodie is being one yourself so you can be foodies together. Once this feeling washes over you, don't fight it. Embrace the feeling. Embrace the foodie within you.