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.
