Sameplate.com plays culinary matchmaker
Foodie dating site seeks to stir things up, bringing together like-minded diners
If the way to someone’s heart is truly through the stomach, food-focused dating sites may be the answer for singles seeking potential love at first bite. Sites such as Singles with Food Allergies and Veggie Connection offer an online platform for those seeking romantic partners with similar diets or food restrictions.
Jeff Nimoy is the founder of SamePlate.com, which seeks to pair up prospective partners based on foods they do — or don’t — like.
The 46-year-old follows the Paleo diet, centred on foods available to the caveman. Nimoy — who documents his eating habits on CookingCaveman.com — eschews potatoes, refined sugar, dairy, legumes and wheat or grains in favour of vegetables, fruits and “clean meats” such as grass-fed beef, pasteurized chicken, wild-caught fish and wild game.
Although he’s been on the Paleo diet for three years, he does admit to noshing on cheeseburgers and pizza on cheat nights.
Nimoy said he got the idea for SamePlate.com while answering a letter from one of his readers about whether he sticks to his regimen on dates and if he has an expectation that those he’s with will eat in a similar fashion.
“As I started mulling it over, I then realized I’m not the only one with this problem. Anyone with a dietary restriction has this problem,” said Nimoy, an Emmy-winning producer and writer and cousin to Star Trek icon Leonard Nimoy.
Nimoy admitted to some eyebrowraising reactions when he mentions his unconventional diet to dates.
“It’s actually a two-pronged approach. The first part is they all look at me and go: ‘ Wow, you look really fit and really healthy, how do you do it?’ And then when I tell them how I do it, they say: ‘Wow, you sound really crazy and I want to get away from you,” he said with a laugh during an interview from Los Angeles.
Nimoy said people drawn to SamePlate.com aren’t just seeking singles with shared eating habits, but are open-minded to meeting others with differing culinary tastes or dietary restrictions.
But Nimoy said the majority of people on the site are “just plain old foodies” looking for fellow enthusiasts to share a meal with.
The free, U.S.-based site has Canadian members, and Nimoy said it has been overwhelmingly popular with women, with the ratio swelling to six to one versus men, from three to one at SamePlate.com’s launch last year.
“My theory is where the women are, the men will eventually follow.”
While the ultimate aim would be to help forge a love match among members, Nimoy said the selling point is “share a meal, no big deal” in a bid to take the pressures of dating out of the equation.
“All you have to do is start a conversation of food, and if romance works out, fantastic.
“But in the meantime, you’ve gotta eat,” he said.