Experimental results show that vegetarians may not be popular with the opposite sex, and if you put 'vegetarian' in your profile on a dating app, you will fail miserably
Having similar eating habits and food preferences as your partner is an important point in building a long-term relationship. However, if you don't want to limit your potential dating opportunities, a Polish study has found that you may be better off not listing yourself as a vegetarian on your dating site or dating app profile.
Dating a Vegetarian? Perception of Masculinity, Attractiveness, and the Willingness to Date Vegetarians| Social Psychological Bulletin
Men who like MEAT are more likely to bag a date - because women see them as more masculine than vegetarians, study finds | Daily Mail Online
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14337465/Men-MEAT-likely-bag-date-women-masculine-vegetarians.html
Why being vegetarian might hurt your chances on dating apps
https://www.psypost.org/why-being-vegetarian-might-hurt-your-chances-on-dating-apps/
In a study published in the peer-reviewed academic journal Social Psychological Bulletin on December 19, 2024, a research team led by Dominika Adamczyk of the University of Warsaw conducted an experiment to examine how eating habits, specifically vegetarianism, affect perceptions of attractiveness and suitability as a romantic partner.
The study involved 404 participants, 204 women and 200 men, aged between 18 and 82, with an average age of about 45. All participants were meat-eating, non-vegetarian, and heterosexual.
In the experiment, participants were presented with a fictitious profile designed to resemble the layout of the popular dating app Tinder. The male and female profiles were identical except for their names and faces, but four variations were created with changes to the dietary information: 'Animal welfare vegetarian (ethical reasons)', 'Environmental vegetarian (environmental reasons)', 'Health vegetarian (health reasons)', and 'No mention of diet (control group)'.
Participants were randomly given four different profiles and were asked to rate each partner based on four criteria: overall 'likability,' 'willingness to date' (whether they would like to date that person), 'gender match' (whether the partner resembles the characteristics of their respective gender), and 'possession of masculine/feminine traits' (how well the partner matches 19 male or female characteristics).
The results of the experiment showed that a control group, whose profiles contained no information about diet, were rated more positively overall, while vegetarians were generally less popular.
The results were particularly dismal: health-conscious vegetarians were rated lowest, least likely to be dated, least gender-incompatible, and least masculine or feminine.
According to the researchers, one of the reasons why vegetarians were unpopular can be explained by a phenomenon called the 'similarity effect.' This is a phenomenon in which people tend to like others who share the same values and lifestyles. Since eating habits often reflect deep values, meat eaters may perceive vegetarians as fundamentally different from themselves and find them less attractive as potential romantic partners.
This speculation is supported by previous research showing that vegetarians prefer to be in romantic relationships with other vegetarians, the researchers said.
Another finding was the influence of the motivation for becoming a vegetarian on evaluations: vegetarians who were concerned about their health may have been evaluated more negatively as being selfish, compared to those who abstained from meat for environmental or animal welfare reasons.
Additionally, there is a stereotype that health-conscious vegetarians are 'very particular about their lifestyle and diet, and can be very demanding even on dates,' which may be the reason why they are avoided as dating partners.
One big gender difference found in this study was that 'women were significantly harsher in their evaluations of men who became vegetarian for ethical reasons than men were in their evaluations of women who became vegetarian for the same reasons.' The research team speculates that this is because caring for animals is associated with sensitivity and emotionality, which is contrary to the image of masculinity, and this may have made it less popular with women.
In addition, the local characteristics of Poland may have influenced the results. According to the research team, Poland's food culture, where traditional family values remain strong, is centered on meat dishes. In such Polish society, a meat-based diet is associated with masculinity, and vegetarian men tend to be viewed as 'unmanly.' It is also possible that the fact that meat dishes are traditional has some influence on the evaluation of women who refuse to eat meat.
'Women who reject traditional masculinity based on strength and dominance may view male vegetarians differently than women who embrace traditional masculinity,' the researchers wrote in their paper. 'This may also explain why vegetarian men are perceived by some women as not being 'real men.''
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