Are you involved in a long-term relationship? What's the number one quality that attracted you to your sweetheart?

Are you single and ready to mingle? What's the most important quality you're looking for in a prospective partner?

The answers revealed in a recent survey may surprise you.

If you were expecting the old standards like, trustworthiness, or someone that makes you laugh, you're in the top three but not the number one spot.

According to a recent OnePoll study on behalf of Perdue and published by SWNS Digital, the number one trait that attracts them to a potential mate is ... Cooking skills.

Maybe that old adage, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach is true. Then again, maybe it's just another aspect of our lives that has changed with the pandemic that won't go away.

63% said that the most important thing they were looking for in a potential partner was that they be a good cook. In fact 6 in 10 said that they had deliberately tried to improve their cooking skills with hope of impressing a potential partner.

Someone they could trust was a very close second at 62%, and someone who makes them laugh came in at 57%.

The rest of the top ten qualities were intelligence, respect, honesty, kindness, a similar lifestyle, similar tastes in television shows, and similar hobbies, in that order.

While it was not implicitly stated I'm thinking that the top spot being claimed by someone proficient in the culinary arts has something to do with the ongoing restrictions on dining out in many parts of the country.

The survey also looked at how our cooking habits have changed over the last year and the top answer there was learning to cook with different ingredients. Becoming more adventurous in meal preparation was a close second followed by branching out into other types of recipes and expanding your collection of kitchen tools in a tie for third.

You can see the complete results on the SWNS Digital page.

KEEP READING: 3-ingredient recipes you can make right now

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