by Meredith Dietrich, News Reporter

Dating. A scary word for some, but promising for others. Speed

dating, supermarket dating and online dating are just three of the

latest fads to hit the dating scene in recent years.

In Paris, Lafayette Gourmet Supermarket staff noticed that a lot

of “singletons” were shopping at the same time at night and decided

to start Supermarket Dating. “Singletons,” as they are called, are

given purple baskets with a cartoon of people kissing on it, a

glass of champagne, a special checkout counter to meet other

singletons and, if they are lucky enough to find a prospect, a

picture of the two of them.

“We noticed that we have an evening clientele buying single

portions of fresh food, so we decided the demand is there,”

Lafayette Gourmet head Sylvain Faudu said Monday.

This idea of convenience and dating combined can also be seen in

the recent “speed dating” trend.

Speed dating, which has gained popularity over the past couple

years, involves 30 men and women going on mini-dates to see who

they like.

Women each sit at separate tables and the men take turns

rotating to each table, spending a total of 3 minutes with each

woman. When time is up, each person then writes whether they

enjoyed the other person or not. At the end of the evening, the

cards are compared to see who had similar answers. If two people

like each other, the service coordinates a date for them.

In Cardiff, speed dating has started for the professional Muslim

man or woman looking for potential marriage partners. “Speed

Intros,” as they are called, are the first speed dating service to

be offered in Cardiff and are geared toward Muslims who are not

interested in their traditional, religious form of dating, where

marriage partners are found based on family introductions.

A spin-off of speed dating is 8 Minute Dating, where the dates

last 8 minutes each and, instead of 15 dates, there are only 8.

Although the selection is smaller, the slight increase in time is

meant to allow people to get to know each other better.

Online dating is also very popular for modern singles.

Participants can look at pictures and small biographies before they

decide whether or not they want to e-mail the person. Dating online

is also extremely convenient because finding a date for the weekend

is as easy as logging onto the Internet.

Online dating services, such as Americansingles.com or

jdate.com, require users to type in the location where they are

looking for love, and the sex and age of the partner they are

looking for. Within seconds, a page of prospects appears on the

screen. After viewing each person, interested parties can than

e-mail the ones they like.

Some European countries have also picked up on online dating.

The vastly popular Match.com sweepingly holds 200,000 users in

Germany alone.

Though these new dating fads may be growing in popularity in

some parts of the world, it may take some time before they catch on

in Madison, according to UW sophomore Michael Reinberg.

“I haven’t even heard of speed dating,” Reinberg said with a

shrug.

For those interested in meeting new people in Madison, they can

try fastdater.com. This website gives the locations, times and

events. RSVP is required to attend.

Hillel also offers speed dating on campus. The organization

hosted dating events last semester and has plans to continue this

spring.