9 foods you should never eat on a date

The INSIDER Summary: 

  • Certain foods can ruin the mood of a date and create awkward moments. 
  • Stay away from foods like broccoli, diet soda and ice cream to avoid potential stomach problems.
  • Foods like ribs, soup dumplings and hard shell tacos are hard to eat gracefully.

Congratulations, you've got a date! There's so much to be nervous about, from the small talk to the kiss conundrum to the fear that this person might be rude to waiters (or hate dogs). With all that on the mind, take any break you can get. Avoid these foods while you're out together, as they are tried-and-true mood killers. Guaranteed awkwardness lies ahead.


liz west / Flickr

Cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli are of the same category: They're all foods you probably hated as a kid, and they're also cruciferous veggies. That means they are packed with nutrients and fight your risk of cancer... but it also means they will make you insanely gassy. Not to mention those little florets and seeds in your teeth.

Spicy food

John Winkelman/Flickr

Maybe you love the fire. But what if your date doesn't? And then you watch this person sit across from you and try to talk while their lips are burning and they're perspiring and waiting patiently for death? Don't put your date through that. The spicy food can come later, when you've agreed on the topic.

Ice cream

cherry ice cream
Kati Molin/Shutterstock

An ice cream date is super cute, right? A sweet throwback to high school rendezvous, when you might steal a kiss with sticky mouths? No. Not with all that dairy rolling through your stomach.


Beef ramen

Ramen says you're a cultured foodie who loves trying hot, new restaurant. But it's also impossible to eat in a polite fashion. All that slurping!


BBQ Baby Back Ribs
MSPhotographic / iStock

There are few things more satisfying than sweet, spicy meat falling off the bone after being smoked for hours. But there is a time and a place for barbecue, and a date is not a time for you to be gnawing on a bone like you're a dog.

Soup dumplings

soup dumplings

A delicate pocket of dough filled with boiling hot broth: What could possibly go wrong? Well, you could puncture one and get the juice everywhere, or you could struggle with the chopsticks, or you could drop it on the way to your mouth, or it could explode at your teeth and leak all over your shirt ... shall we go on?

Diet soda

fountain soda coke coca-cola ice beverage
Mr.TinDC / Flickr

If you're gearing up for a long night (you saucy minx), a caffeinated pick-me-up from the office vending machine may seem like just the ticket. Diet soda will bloat you like crazy, though, and no one wants to go into a date with a distended belly.

Hard-shell tacos

Karl-Martin Skontorp/Flickr

These things are seriously impossible to eat even if you're alone. How are hard tacos supposed to work?! Don't eat one of these on an early-stage date, unless you enjoy spraying lettuce strips and bits of ground beef onto people you are attracted to.

Certain sushi rolls

Plate of Sushi
Alexis Lamster / Flickr

Sushi etiquette can really vary from person to person and culture to culture, but certain rolls are just plain difficult to pick up deftly with chopsticks. Not to mention stuff into your mouth in one go.


SEE ALSO: This is the one dish you should order on a first date

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