Feeling hungry and lonely? A TikTok creator says a dating app strategy led to months of free dinners at Texas Roadhouse and ultimately helped her meet her husband. Many viewers connected it to the idea of a “foodie call,” or a date with someone without necessarily having any romantic interest, because the other person is expected to pay for the meal. Research shows the technique isn’t new.
Anna (@itsannaspelledbackwards) shared the short video, which has been viewed nearly 300k times, in July 2026, with the text overlay: “How I felt on dating apps when I put my ideal date is Texas Roadhouse and was getting taken there 2x a week for months.” In the caption, Anna added, “And that’s how I bagged my husband on @Tinder.”
The seemingly lighthearted post quickly sparked a wave of comments. People said they had similar experiences while using dating apps, while others noted they’d take Anna’s advice.
Foodie calls are real, according to science
What Anna describes is essentially a foodie call. The term “foodie call” gained wider attention after a 2019 study published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, which surveyed women about the behavior.
The researchers found that between 23% and 33% of participants reported engaging in a foodie call. Researchers cautioned that the survey did not use a nationally representative sample and should not be viewed as reflecting the general population. (And while some report going on foodie calls with people who might not want to date, Anna reportedly met her match.)
@itsannaspelledbackwards And that’s how I bagged my husband on @Tinder 😍 @Texas Roadhouse
♬ original sound – Sonicallygifted
While there is no guaranteed way to avoid the situation, experts recommend choosing lower-cost first dates, such as meeting for coffee or a walk. They say to focus on getting to know someone before committing to an expensive dinner.
The economy and “swipe fatigue” has made foodie calls an endangered species
A shift in dating culture following the pandemic has also altered the financial and emotional stakes of meeting new people. Spurred by “swipe fatigue” and a desire to combat burnout, daters are moving away from superficial, repetitive interactions and demanding high-value, intentional connection.
And men have caught on. Around the same time that scientists coined the “foodie call” term, someone posted on Reddit, “I knew that a few of the women I’ve dated were just looking for a free dinner/drinks but I never knew it was ubiquitous enough to actually have a term named for it (22-33% of women admitted to doing it)!!”
Nonetheless, one of Anna’s commenters joked that they still did it with Longhorn Steakhouse, too. “I had to stop when the waiter asked if I wanted strawberry lemonade again,” suggesting they had visited LongHorn Steakhouse so often that staff recognized their usual order.
Another said seafood became the centerpiece of every dating profile prompt, writing that they made every “SINGLE prompt” seafood-related, and ended up getting taken out to seafood restaurants three times a week. A third commenter claimed they “didn’t buy groceries for months” while actively dating because so many meals came from dates.
Others treated the idea as comic relief rather than relationship advice. One viewer wrote that they had “given up on finding someone decent on the apps,” but joked they might still use dating apps to “lower my grocery bill.”
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