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Two recent studies undertaken by an overseas university have found that women are engaging in what they term 'Foodie call,' which is going on dates with men because they are going to get a meal.

One study included 357 women, and the other study had 820 women. Thirty-three per cent of respondents in the first study and 23 per cent of respondents in the second study said they have engaged in foodie calls.

Jamaican psychologist Leahcim Semaj says that he is not surprised by the findings.

"It's an arrangement between a man and a woman, mostly, but it has a transactional basis to it. You have heard of friends with benefits. It is a version of it, so it is not an emotion-bound thing. It is a practical approach thing. You have needs, I have needs. You have means, I have needs that your means could help to solve, so let's work something out," he said.

Semaj said that he has heard women saying that they would use their last money to get their nails and hair done because someone will take them out. In these instances, he said, a meal and entertainment would be provided.

While not wanting to comment on the specifics of the study, marriage and family counsellor Carla Dunbar said that depending on a woman's need, she might date a man. However, she said that not everyone will engage in this behaviour.

NEEDS BEING MET

"... we don't live in a perfect world, and not all things are the same way. Needs may cause a woman to go out with a man because as you would have seen in society ... their needs are being met, that they are unable, at the time, to meet themselves," she said.

The study further revealed that of the women interviewed, some believed a foodie call was anywhere from moderately to extremely unacceptable, and those who admitted to foodie calls scored higher in the 'dark triad' (narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) of personality traits.

However, Semaj said that correlation does not lead to causation and as such, "to imply psychological motives when they are more practical explanations is not needed in this case".

"If your means are limited and someone is offering to take you out, it means that you are getting a meal. I believe it is a big stretch to associate this to a psychopath, who is somebody who doesn't know right from wrong and has limited emotional expression, who can injure and harm people without thinking of any consequence, or a narcissist, who thinks everything of themselves and that things rotate around them with situations that have practical reasons. The idea of going out, where your means are limited and you have a chance of getting a meal and it is a good meal, 'I can save my money', it is more practical than psychological," he said.