Vancouver men cook dinner for strangers

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – When it comes to making new friends or meeting new people, our first instinct may not be to go door knocking, but a Vancouver man’s quest to bring human connection into our lives is taking him into the homes and kitchens of strangers.

Brad Lancaster has been experimenting with human connections for months. The host of the YouTube channel Discover Connection, and a recent arrival in Vancouver, the 24-year-old filmed his solo-hitchhiking journey all the way from Nova Scotia, detailing the adventures he had and the helpful people he met along the way.

“I feel very disconnected in my life and I’m trying to figure out ways to bring connection back into my life and explore what human connection means and hopefully through my experience, people can relate to me,” he said.


Finding himself in a new city, he wanted to continue that exploration, even if it meant cooking for strangers in their own kitchens.

Inspired by a YouTube cooking show called Stranger Kitchens, he and two friends filmed themselves knocking on strangers’ doors and offering to cook them dinner in their own kitchens.

“I really wanted to see what would happen in Vancouver if we did that, because Vancouver, from what I’ve seen, is known as a very unfriendly place and people have a hard time meeting people and creating connections here,” Lancaster said, adding he chose to use food as an icebreaker tool. “Food is something that connected all of us. It breaks down barriers, it allows you to open conversation and connect with somebody and it brings together large groups of people.”

What they thought would be a quick pitch turned into 90 minutes of door knocking, rejection and weird looks from homeowners, but eventually a man and woman welcomed them into their home.

“It’s really nerve racking when you have people who say no, and you kind of have to not let that put you down. Once you have that yes, everything else before that fades away and all you’re thinking about is the experience,” Lancaster said. “As soon as we got into the house, they were so welcoming and friendly. They showed us a whole tour of their house. They’re doing a renovations and they showed us their work space, their backyard with all their plants that they were growing for cooking. It was such a friendly and welcoming environment.”

With a kitchen to cook in, the team got to work buying all the ingredients they needed to cook the couple their meal that night.

“The main thing for me is every time we do this, it reminds you of how many amazing people there actually are out there in the world and how many people we’re not talking to and meeting because we usually just stay in our own lane and hang out with the people we already know,” Lancaster said. “We learned so much from her (the woman’s) insight on the world and it inspired us a lot and I never would have had that if I didn’t go and knocked on her door.”

While he isn’t sure if he will attempt another cooking experiment, Lancaster says his human connection journey is far from over, and he hopes others take inspiration from his efforts.

“If you can watch us do something that is kind of crazy, and we can accomplish that, then even the smallest things, like if you can just go say high to a stranger and strike up a conversations or just smile more often to people, and create those small little connections,” he said “It’s not about making best friends with every stranger you see. It’s about making the world a little more connected and less lonely.”

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