Though it may sound like the sort of thing you would expect to find in a chain e-mail, researcher Alan Hirsch has spent 20 years and studied over 18,000 people in order to discover what people's favorite foods say about them. Like tortilla chips the best? You might tend towards perfectionism. Is vanilla your favorite flavor? You might have a surprisingly spicy personality. All of Hirsch's participants came from the midwestern US, but he is sure that his findings can be applied elsewhere, with small regional variations.

Want to get a taste of personality? The Seattle Post Intelligencer has an excerpt from Hirch's book, What's Your Food Sign? How To Use Food Clues To Find Lasting Love. To learn about your compatibility through flavor, imagine that you and your date are at the ice-cream parlor. Which of these flavors would you pick?

• Vanilla
• Double chocolate chunk
• Strawberries and cream
• Banana cream pie
• Chocolate chip
• Butter pecan
• Strawberry
• Coffee
• Mint chocolate chip
• Rocky road

Ready? Read on to find out your results, including what your choice says about you and whether you're more compatible with coffee or chocolate chip.

• Vanilla: You're colorful, dependent and needy, an idealist and a risk-taker. You're a private person who enjoys close relationships with others. Best match: rocky road or another vanilla
• Double chocolate chunk: You're self-absorbed, enjoy being the center of attention and tend to be somewhat dramatic. You're also lively, charming and flirtatious. You like novelty and are bored by routine. You're a clotheshorse and into looking good. Best match: butter pecan or chocolate chip
• Strawberries and cream: You're an introvert who handles stress poorly and can become overwhelmed, irritable and cranky. Best match: chocolate chip
• Banana cream pie: You're well-adjusted, easygoing and empathetic. You make the perfect spouse and parent. Best match: vanilla, double chocolate chunk, strawberries and cream, chocolate chip, butter pecan or another banana cream pie
• Chocolate chip: You're ambitious, competitive, a go-getter and a visionary. You're charming and enjoy being catered to. Best match: butter pecan or double chocolate chunk
• Butter pecan: You're principled, a rule-follower, intelligent, conscientious, moral and a perfectionist. You can be competitive but also quick to criticize yourself. Best match: mint chocolate chip
• Strawberry: You're content to be a follower working behind the scenes. You like being part of a team. Best match: rocky road, vanilla, mint chocolate chip or other strawberries
• Coffee: You're lively, dramatic, seductive and flirtatious and live life with gusto. You throw yourself headfirst into everything and prefer to live in the moment rather than think about the future. Best match: strawberry
• Mint chocolate chip: You're a cynic -- ambitious, argumentative and contrary. You're frugal and cautious about planning the future. Best match: other mint chocolate chips
• Rocky road: You're charming and engaging in social situations, but driven at work. You can lose your temper over life's inconveniences, particularly waiting in line. Best match: other rocky roads

[Quiz from Hirsch's book, via the Seattle PI]