Sweet Earth Foods Teams Up with Actor Chase Stokes for Valentine's Date Night Advice

MOSS LANDING, Calif., Feb. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Singles across America have ranked dietary preferences (e.g., vegan, vegetarian or flexitarian) above other compatibility qualities such as physical appearance, sexual chemistry and political ideologies according to a new survey commissioned by plant-based food innovator Sweet Earth Foods. In response to these perceived challenges, Sweet Earth has teamed up with Netflix's Outer Banks star and flexitarian Chase Stokes to debunk the difficulties of dating someone who eats differently.

On Wednesday, Feb. 10, at 6 pm EST, Sweet Earth and Chase will host a virtual Q&A event – the Veggie Lovers Virtual Dating Event — with OkCupid Dating Expert Damona Hoffman, geared at connecting open-minded singles who are ready to meatlessly mingle in advance of Valentine's Day. During the live Zoom conversation, Chase Stokes will talk about dating in 2021 and exploring a plant-based relationship, while offering insights from his first-hand experience dating a vegan whilst being a meat eater. Fans can sign up for the event at ImaVeggieLover.com and also enter for the chance to join an exclusive and private speed dating event following the webcast. Limited spaces available, so sign up today.

"Finding someone to date can be tough enough without having the dreaded "what to eat for dinner" question get in the way of a potential match," said Chase, who is currently filming the second season of Netflix's Outer Banks. "When Maddie and I started dating, I didn't have any ambitions to adopt a plant-based diet, but I really started liking the food when I tried Sweet Earth® products and realized there's a ton of variety available if you want to eat less meat." 

The new 2021 Sweet Earth Dating + Diets Survey revealed additional surprising insights into how polarizing dating perceptions are among those who follow different eating habits, including:

• For both plant-based dieters and non-dieters alike, almost half rank diet over politics – specifically, that having a similar diet is more important in a partner than having similar political ideologies (non-plant-based: 46%, flexitarian: 46%, vegetarians: 36%, vegans: 41%)
• 1 in 3 (32%) non-plant-based dieters would want couples counseling if they were to date a plant-based dieter.
• 1 in 2 vegetarians say a carnivore diet would impact their perception of that person's eligibility as a potential match, and 66% of vegans say the same. This is even stronger among LGBTQ+ vegans - 3 in 4 say a carnivore diet would impact their perception.
• For non-plant-based dieters, when they consider a potential match's eligibility, following a strict diet like veganism or vegetarianism is seen as worse than having credit card debt.
• 1 in 5 vegans (19%) and vegetarians (20%) have broken their diets on dates because they were too anxious to tell their date about their diet.

"Sweet Earth recognizes that while food is something that should bring us together, it often feels like an added stressor when trying to date. Our mission is to create products that never compromise on taste, so they appeal to flexitarians and vegans alike," said Sara Wheeler, vice president and general manager of Sweet Earth Foods. "Our over 75 plant-based products make it possible for the veggie-curious and veggie-lovers to put aside their differences and come together to share a delicious, flavorful meal."

In similar fashion, OkCupid has also been opening the door to love connections between daters who may have different eating habits and preferences. The app shares that users who are open to a relationship with someone who is a vegetarian or vegan have received more incoming 'Likes' in 2021 than those who are not open to it.

"What a person eats doesn't define their whole identity, but for some it can result in a polarizing perception of compatibility despite there being several other dimensions of relationships that tend to matter much more," says OkCupid Dating Expert Damona Hoffman. "For online daters, in-app questions conveniently do the work to help people find better matches, but I always encourage being open minded. In fact, thousands of people on OkCupid said they participated in 'Veganuary" last month, showing what we eat can change and offering an interesting opportunity to explore differences."

About Sweet Earth Foods:
Based in Moss Landing, California, Sweet Earth is an award-winning, innovative plant-based food company that makes more than 75 culinary-driven, sustainably-minded products. The company has won over flexitarian flavor-seekers and health-conscious consumers alike with its diverse portfolio of delicious, nutritious new takes on timelessly appealing foods, from its Awesome Burgers, Mindful Chik'n™ and complete entrees, to breakfast items and snacks. Sweet Earth encourages consumers to Never Stop Tasting, setting the expectation that compromising on flavor isn't an option with plant-based food; every product has been carefully crafted by the Sweet Earth culinary innovation team and is globally inspired for exceptional cravability, nutritional diversity and bold flavors from across the world. For more information, please visit www.SweetEarthFoods.com and connect with us on Instagram at  @sweetearthfoods.

About the 2021 Sweet Earth Dating + Diets Survey

The 2021 Sweet Earth Dating + Diets Survey was an online survey commissioned by Sweet Earth and conducted by independent research firm Edelman Data x Intelligence. The survey interviewed 1,000 Gen-Z and Millennial daters in the US who have dated within the last two years, nationally representative based on gender, region, and race/ethnicity. We also interviewed recent daters following specific diets, including n250 flexitarians, n250 vegetarians, and n250 vegans. Data was collected between December 4th-December 13th, 2020.

Press Contact:  
Tricia Paulson 
[email protected] 
(415) 849-6199

SOURCE Sweet Earth Foods

Related Links

http://www.SweetEarthFoods.com