Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Definitely books.
You can encourage a mate to eat better over time.
Most people don't take kindly to attempts at "elevating" their reading material.

This was my local haunt while in grad school! Glad to see a post about it. Not too sure about the description of the patrons as "chic geeks", but the food is great - slightly fancy bar food. I highly recommend it for those traveling through Cambridge who don't feel like bothering with the crowds in Harvard Square.

I totally agree with dimsumfan. The giant xiao long bao are not that tasty, although hilariously huge. The dough is pretty thick and is really there to serve as a vessel, much like a coconut shell is for coconut juice. Also, the broth isn't nearly as intense in flavor as the smaller ones.

steakpuff: I think the restaurant you're talking about is Nyonya and I absolutely agree that it is wonderfully tasty - and also reasonably-priced. I've been there on several occasions with my large extended family and it's always worked out to be a tasty and positive experience. Recommendations: roti canai and the squid in house special sauce. Their noodle dishes are great, too.

Mother's Peanut Butter Bumpers. 1% milk. Standing over the sink. It's the perfect meal when you get home late, starving, yet too spent to worry about a hot meal. And virtually no clean-up!

I'll go on record and say I didn't think it was anything special. It was good but it wasn't particularly nutty or 'porky'. $20 for 1/4 pound was overpriced. I'd pay maybe $10.

Neither is a deal-breaker unless the person is fanatic about it, or tries to convert me to their ways. Same goes for just about anything -- religion, politics, milk-or-sugar -- whatever. I'm perfectly happy to have a reasoned discussion about whatever it might be, and I'm just as willing to let the topic lie undisturbed, but I'm not fond of people who insist that I should change who I am to suit them.

I'm actually more interested in people who are unlike me than those who could be my clones. I like learning about other people's cultures (including foods) and beliefs. I might not agree with them or embrace them in my own life, but I find it interesting on an intellectual level.

Things that are deal breakers are unkindness and ill manners of all sorts. Some ill manners I might excuse in a friend or relative that I wouldn't accept in a mate, however. Luckily, that choice is already made.

I agree wholeheartedly with Karen Resta, while I love both food and books, I am of the opinion that the heart and soul of a person determines their worth.

I am a pescetarian married to an omnivore, but we have had few problems since we do both love food. And we are both readers. While I don't worry too much about WHAT he reads, the fact that he DOES read was important. The previous boyfriend didn't read newspapers and was never in the middle of a book. 'Twas a deal-breaker, for sure.

Books are more of a dealbreaker for me. Anyone who likes Ayn Rand is out. Anyone who likes Nabokov is in.

I don't think food is quite as important as the person's attitude towards life, especially since the kind of food someone eats changes over time more than the mindset defined by the books they like. And it's a lot easier to sneak kale into someone's dish than Dickens into their hearts.