A third of women have gone on a romantic date just for a free meal, study claims

If you're anything like me, you would scale buildings, get in high-speed car chases and move mountains for free food - and you don't care who knows it!

But there's one ultimate test of love for grub: would you go out with someone you didn't fancy in the slightest for a free meal?

The answer from many women seems to be 'Yes, I absolutely would,' with a new study alleging that a third of females have been on a date with someone they are not romantically interested in in order to get wined and dined.

Nervous for your next date? No stress - time to check out Ellen Degeneres' dating tips:

This week it emerged from two online studies by psychologists that 23 per cent to 33 per cent of women have done a so-called 'foodie call'.

However, there's some bad news for you, if you have engaged in such behaviour: there's a chance you may have some less than desirable characteristics.

According to the researchers at Azusa Pacific University, women who scored high on the three 'dark' personality traits - psychopathy, Machiavellianism and narcissism - are more likely to find a foodie call acceptable.

In addition, they are allegedly more likely to believe in traditional gender roles - i.e. that women should be housewives, while men are breadwinners.

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In the first study, 820 women were reportedly recruited, with 40 per cent reporting they were single, 33 per cent married, and 27 per cent saying they were in a committed relationship but not hitched. A total of 85 per cent said they were heterosexual, with straight women being the main focus for the study.

The participants answered a number of questions that measured their personality traits, beliefs about gender roles, and their 'foodie call' history, and were also questioned on whether they found a date-for-food situation socially acceptable.

According to the results, almost a quarter (23 per cent) of women revealed they'd engaged in a foodie call, with most of these doing so occasionally or rarely. However, despite these conclusions, most women believed foodie calls were extremely to moderately unacceptable.

The second study, also published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, analysed a similar set of questions with 357 heterosexual women. They found 33 per cent had engaged in a foodie call.

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Nonetheless, researchers advised the public to take the findings with a pinch of salt, saying it was important to note that neither of the studies recruited representative samples of women, so it's impossible to know if the percentages are accurate for women in general.

Study co-author Dr Brian Collisson commented on the research, stating: "Several dark traits have been linked to deceptive and exploitative behaviour in romantic relationships, such as one-night stands, faking an orgasm, or sending unsolicited sexual pictures."

The Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Azusa Pacific University reiterated that psychologists would have to study more women to know for sure, stating foodie calls  "could be more prevalent, for instance, if women lied or misremembered their foodie calls to maintain a positive view of their dating history."

The group of researchers also noted that foodie calls could occur in many types of relationships, and could be done by men as well as women.