Chandana and Dan – Volunteers

Chandana and Dan met while volunteering at FoodCycle Thornton Heath, where their shared passion for cooking blossomed into romance.

Dan has always had a passion for cooking and whilst at university he was keen to find a volunteering opportunity that would enable him to use and develop his culinary skills, as well as the chance to meet new people, outside of his course. This is when he came across FoodCycle, he loved the different people that he got to meet and the challenge of creating a new meal each week. After volunteering for a year, Dan then moved to an area where there wasn’t a FoodCycle so his volunteering was on pause for a while. 

When he moved back to London in 2023, finding his local FoodCycle community meal was one of his top priorities. “One of the reasons I moved was because I really missed volunteering, it’s such a great way to meet people and so I was delighted to be back volunteering with FoodCycle again.” 

After a few sessions volunteering at FoodCycle Thornton Heath, he then met fellow volunteer Chandana. 

Chandana had been volunteering with FoodCycle for almost a year after a friend in America had volunteered for a similar organisation and recommended it. “It was really fun, I’ve always loved cooking so this was the perfect opportunity for me, plus it was only 10 minutes away from where I was living.”   

For both of them, volunteering was always an opportunity to be able to meet people but neither of them expected to find a romantic partner whilst volunteering.  

Dan says “I’ve never been interested in dating apps and whilst I wasn’t actively using volunteering to meet someone, it had crossed my mind that I could meet someone. Being around people who have similar interests, you’d hope that might happen.”  

Chandana had been dating for a while but it definitely wasn’t something that was on her mind when she first met Dan. “I was chatting with another volunteer, talking about having lived in America, that I had done MBA and mentioned my Physics degree, which is what I think got Dan really interested in the conversation. Later on Dan, also a Physics graduate, was making a salad dressing and he wanted vegan mayo to help stabilize it and my immediate thought was, ‘ooo someone’s been reading Kenji.’ (a food writer) That really impressed me.”  

The spark really started to blossom for Dan when Chandana impressed him with her five-spiced parsnips recipe. “She’d wanted to make honeyed parsnips but there wasn’t any honey, so in true FoodCycle style she substituted it with five-spice.  I thought that was really clever and from the conversations we’d had earlier, she was really interesting, clearly smart, plus the parsnips tasted delicious!”  

Having been impressed by her cooking skills, Dan reached out to her and asked if she wanted a coffee. 

“At first, I thought he just wanted to talk careers” Chandana says “But when we met, just two days after volunteering together, I knew that this had the possibility of being something more.  I had been dating for a while but found dating apps almost like shopping, people weren’t really interested, just browsing, not wanting to meet. So to meet someone in such a natural way, who then had the courage and interest to ask me out on a date, was a real breath of fresh air.” 

One date turned into two and then as they say, the rest is history. Dan and Chandana continue to volunteer together at FoodCycle Thronton Heath.  They have also just moved in together and will be celebrating with a housewarming that includes fellow FoodCycle volunteers. (And hopefully some five-spiced parsnips). 

Check out Chandana’s five-spiced parsnip recipe!