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" It was my first date with the cute vet I&amp;#039;d met at the park, and instantly it felt like we were reenacting a scene from a Nora Ephron movie. The banter was romantic-comedy perfect: laughing about how my dog tried to hump his, dissing each other&amp;#039;s hometown baseball teams, planning an evening at the ice-skating rink. But during the date, when I ordered dinner (&amp;quot;Chicken fajitas, please \u2014 hold the peppers, no sour cream, and refried instead of black beans&amp;quot;), I swear he exchanged a look with the waiter. Later, I saw him clench his teeth as I pushed bits of chicken that looked suspiciously undercooked to the &amp;quot;no&amp;quot; section of my plate. Then he sighed loudly when I wouldn&amp;#039;t try a bite of his mole enchilada. Needless to say, cute vet never called again. Men don&amp;#039;t like picky eaters. Dining out, like sex, should be a sensual, indulgent experience. Get too fussy at the table (dressing on the side) and they think you&amp;#039;re high-maintenance in the bedroom. It&amp;#039;s no wonder, then, that when men get a glimpse of my extensive food rule book \u2014 nothing spicy, no condiments, no red meat or seafood, no mixing of sauces \u2014 they flee. I&amp;#039;ve always been this way. When I was a kid, my worried parents asked my pediatrician why the list of foods I wouldn&amp;#039;t eat was longer than the list of ones I would. He told them it was just a phase. Only it wasn&amp;#039;t. As an adult, I like to think of my eating peccadilloes as an endearing quirk, like a too-loud laugh. For men, however, they&amp;#039;re an unequivocal turnoff. So I came up with a foolproof system to avoid the gastro-judgments: I insist on taking the new guy to my favorite Middle Eastern restaurant, whose menu I&amp;#039;ve already vetted. I&amp;#039;ve taken my last seven dates there. Compulsive? Maybe. Calculated? Definitely. But it&amp;#039;s a relief to order food freely, confidently, even wantonly \u2014 to be able to flirt shamelessly over a romantic dinner without scrutinizing every bite. Yeah, I choreograph the dinner, but once that&amp;#039;s over, I&amp;#039;m open to suggestions. Did You Know? 40% of women will order dessert at a restaurant only if someone else does. FROM HIS SIDE OF THE TABLE Josh Radnor plays the lovelorn architect Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother. Turns out, his single-guy shtick on the show isn&amp;#039;t all that different from his real-life hunt for the perfect woman. Here, Josh decodes the dinner menu, revealing what he really thinks about how women eat on the first date: Filet mignon: &amp;quot;Either she thinks I&amp;#039;m rich, or she&amp;#039;s anemic.&amp;quot; Garlicky food: &amp;quot;I love garlic, and I don&amp;#039;t mind kissing someone who&amp;#039;s had a ton of it. Raw onions are a different story.&amp;quot; Bacon cheeseburger: &amp;quot;She knows more about sports than I do.&amp;quot; Salad, dressing on the side: &amp;quot;She&amp;#039;s either a control freak or a wilted-lettuce hater.&amp;quot; Pad Thai: &amp;quot;She&amp;#039;s not that adventurous \u2014 it&amp;#039;s the sweet-and-sour chicken of Thai food.&amp;quot; Onion rings: &amp;quot;She better gimme one.&amp;quot; Dessert: &amp;quot;When a man says, &amp;#039;Let&amp;#039;s share a few desserts,&amp;#039; he&amp;#039;s automatically getting to third base.Full disclosure: I&amp;#039;ve pulled this move.&amp;quot; HUNGRY FOR APPROVAL Eating to Impress Your Boss Eating for Mom&amp;#039;s Approval Eating to Console a Friend "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.marieclaire.com/health-fitness/news/a2230/eating-with-men-date-foods/>