Oh, for the glory days of arranged marriage, matchmakers (see: Fiddler on the Roof), and drunk hook-ups in bars and grad school seminars. In the modern era of online dating, we instead have things like Match.com (5 countries! 8 languages! 5 continents!) and eHarmony, enormous businesses that seem less like helpful computerized date-finding friends than your own personal Haliburton. Maybe specialization will help, right? If it works for JDate, ChristianMingle and BlackPeopleMeet, why not narrow things down via culinary preferences or dietary restrictions?

Which brings us to GlutenfreeSingles, which is not a Kraft processed cheese product (yet), but a new website which identifies as “a dating, networking, and informative website where you never have to feel alone, awkward, or a burden because you are gluten-free.” Well, at least — unlike many dating sites — it's free. Which only seems fitting.

Actually, if you're gluten-intolerant or have celiac disease, it's a good site even if you're not trolling for a mate. There's a blog with good posts about useful things (“The FDA's Slow Movement On Gluten-Free Labeling,” “Does a Gluten-Free Diet Leave Out Important Vitamins and Minerals?”), as well as dating-specific topics (“Should I Go Gluten Free To Support My Boyfriend/Girlfriend?”). And with so much misperception and misinformation out there — no, not everybody who shuns gluten or milk or whatever is secretly anorexic — it's helpful to have a resource that gives you FDA updates while you look for a date for the weekend.

Now maybe somebody will start helpful dating sites for other worthy sub-groups: BaristaSingles, or DatingForRamenLovers or TACOTRUCKdate.com. It would save some of us a great deal of time and needless frustration. In the meantime, maybe read novelist Ann Lamott's hilarious account of her year on Match.com in Salon.

See also:

– FDA Sets Standard for 'Gluten-Free' Labeling

– The Cheesecake Factory Introduces Gluten-Free Menu

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