Foodie calls

I'm sure you've all heard of a booty call, but have you ever heard of a foodie call? That's when a woman* pretends to be interested in a guy to take advantage of the traditional idea that a man should pay for a woman's meal on the first date. A 2017 New York Post article ("Beware of 'foodie call' dates who are just in it for a free meal") reported that a whopping 44% of the young women surveyed had "swiped right on a date 'because why not; it’s a free meal'—even if they weren't attracted to the" guy. A larger and more scientific inquiry published in June 2019 in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science ("Foodie Calls: When Women Date Men for a Free Meal (Rather Than a Relationship)") found that about a third of the women studied had engaged in a foodie call. But of the women who had done so, they averaged between 5 and 6 foodie calls each, with one woman—the Babe Ruth of foodie calls—having gone on no less than 55 such dates! I wonder if she ever has to go to the grocery at all? You'd think word would get around in the dating community.

In order to justify someone funding the study, and including the results in a scientific journal on personality science, the researchers also measured where the participants fell on the so-called "dark triad" of personality traits: Machiavellianism (being more likely to manipulate and deceive); psychopathy (lacking remorse); and narcissism (everyone knows what this means since 2016). Not surprisingly, more Machiavellian women were more likely to go on foodie calls. There was no correlation with psychopathy or narcissism.

The not-so-obvious lesson I draw from this study is to do what you love. Imagine how much funner my life would have been if instead of being a boring contract lawyer (yawn), I'd have put my psychology degree to better use and gotten someone to pay me for studying interesting things like foodie calls. Where do I sign up for that job?

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*I say woman here not to be a chauvinistic asshole, but because the phenomenon has been reported on and studied almost exclusively when it's a man paying for a woman's dinner.

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Given the preponderance of pasta recipes here on UaKS, I'd kinda sworn off posting anymore. But I've been looking for ways to get more fish into my increasingly pescatarian diet and rediscovered this recipe from one of my pantheon of great cookbooks, The Zuni Café Cookbook by Judy Rodgers. Even though it only takes 25 minutes to assemble, the flavor of this dish is surprisingly complex, and I imagine it would be even more so if you used the optional preserved lemon.

4/16/21 update: The preserved lemon does, in fact, add another layer of flavor to what is already a stellar dish without it.

 

Zuni Pasta with Tuna and Pine Nuts

Adapted from The Zuni Café Cookbook (2002) by Judy Rodgers

Time: 25 minutes

I used two 5-ounce cans of Wild Planet Albacore Solid Wild Tuna in Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Everything I’ve read says it’s the best tasting tuna, and it’s also the highest rated by Greenpeace for how sustainably and ethically it is produced. Rodgers actually specified canned tuna as a lesser alternative to preserving expensive fresh tuna, which is why she developed this recipe for her restaurant in the first place. You should be able to see her method for preserving fresh tuna here if you're interested in going that route.

½ cup (105 grams) extra-virgin olive oil
Zest of 1 lemon, removed in thin strips or with a Microplane
1 bay leaf or ⅛ teaspoon bay leaf powder
¼ to ½ teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
¼ to ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, to taste
¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
1 or 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced or grated on a Microplane
10 ounces (285 grams) best-quality oil-packed tuna (see note)
¼ cup (30 grams) pine nuts
2 tablespoons (~17 grams) capers, rinsed and coarsely chopped if you like; or pitted, coarsely chopped green olives, such as Picholine
1 tablespoon rinsed and finely chopped preserved lemon, optional but delicious (if you use the linked recipe to make preserved lemons, 1 tablespoon works out to one lemon wedge)
1 to 2 tablespoons fine sea salt
1 pound penne, ziti, or rotini

    1. Bring 4 quarts of water to a roiling boil in a large, covered pot.
    2. Place a small skillet over medium-low heat with the oil, lemon zest, bay leaf, chili flakes, black pepper, fennel seeds, and garlic. When the oil is warm, turn the heat down a notch or two and leave the oil to infuse for about 15 minutes. Stir in the tuna, pine nuts, capers or olives, and preserved lemon, if using. Using a fork, gently break up the tuna chunks into bite-sized pieces.
    3. Meanwhile, stir the salt into the boiling water until it’s dissolved. Add the pasta and stir a few times during the first minute or two to keep it from sticking. Cook until al dente. Drain well and toss in a serving bowl with the tuna mixture. Serve promptly. Serves 4.