Churchill Dan - Surfing the menu

Dan Churchill was born and bred on Sydneys beautiful Northern Beaches. He comes from a family of three active boys who were always out in the backyard or down at the beach. He grew up with a strong interest in health, cooking and education, nurtured by the interest his family took in cooking. He is a natural entrepreneur and established his first business as a health coach at the age of 17.

Dan completed a Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Management and a Masters in Exercise Science (Strength and Conditioning) at the Edith Cowan University, Perth. He then started a personal training business and continued to work as a health coach. He self-published his first cookbook, DudeFood , when he was 19. He has since published The Healthy Cook and another edition of DudeFood .

Dan appeared on MasterChef in 2013. Since then he has coached athletes in strength and conditioning and nutrition, contributed a regular food column to Mens Health magazine and produced a cooking series on YouTube. He has also appeared on Good Morning America and been nominated as a Cleo Bachelor of the Year.

Dans approach to food is based on bringing people together whacking a board of something wicked and tasty on the table and having your mates tuck in! Because he is also a health coach, he favours whole foods and no refined sugar. But the joy of food is what counts. He says, My number one rule is that it must be delicious! My number two rule is that it must be bright and colourful and full of nutrients.

He learned many useful professional lessons from doing Surfing the Menu Next Generation . He says, Im used to working with a single lens for YouTube videos and looking straight to camera. So, I had to learn new skills for TV. I was given great direction on facial expression and how to hold things on camera. Im super passionate when Im cooking and laugh and use my hands a lot, so I had to learn to pull back and build up to the big moment when the dish is ready. That was hard, but a fantastic challenge.

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Hayden Quinn grew up surrounded by the ocean, great food and a crazy bunch of mates. From early in his life he has displayed a restless sense of adventure.

Hayden completed a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology at the University of Technology, Sydney, after which he became a professional lifeguard for nine years. He still does the odd shift on the beach today. He loves to be active and is the co-owner of the Cube Gym on Sydneys Northern Beaches.

Since appearing on MasterChef in 2011, Hayden has appeared on the TV shows The Dinner Project (LifestyleFOOD, Australia) and Hayden Quinn South Africa (SABC3, South Africa). He is the author of Dish It Up and two eBooks. He has developed the innovative YouTube series of visual food adventures, Unrefined , and Baking with Nutorious . He has also joined forces with the philanthropic Kooks Wine label.

Hayden loves to create and share food that is alive with flavour and demands to be eaten. For him, even if a recipe looks fancy, the ingredients should be readily available at the local supermarket. Food is not just about creating special occasions, it is also about healthy, delicious, everyday sustenance for busy people. He is not above a sneaky little treat and thinks that eating refined sugar occasionally is OK. He says, At the end of a massive day when we were shooting Id be up for a beer and Doritos. Dan has more self-control! But Id still be awake early to exercise the next day.

When asked what he learned the most from appearing on Surfing the Menu Next Generation , Hayden says, Theres a lot more to Australia that those of us in the big cities know about. There are many places out there that are more beautiful than anywhere Ive been in the world. Its changed my insular Sydney-centric view of the world, even though Ive been to wild places like Mozambique. I loved learning about the different types of people there are in Australia and what they do for a living. I understand much more about the amazing country we live in.

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Two boys from Sydneys Northern Beaches were raised in families that love to cook. They both spent all their time at the beach and grew up to be keen surfers. They became mates because they both appeared on MasterChef , although not at the same time. And then, they were brought together to head off in Gigi, an intrepid vintage VW beetle, to explore whats cooking across northern Australia from the west to the east coasts. Of course, being surfer dudes, they caught the odd wave on their travels! And thats how Surfing the Menu Next Generation came to be.

Surfing the Menu is the popular ABC TV cooking show. The first two series introduced us to Curtis Stone and Ben ODonoghue. Now its time to hit the surfing trail again with a new generation of food lovers Dan Churchill and Hayden Quinn and to discover the glorious fresh produce that can be found all over the north of this exciting country.

HQ: I come from a big family with two sisters. My mum is a home economist, so I grew up around a foodie. Im always meeting people who say, Your mum taught me how to cook! In fact, Tracy Rutherford our recipe editor and food stylist learned to cook with my mum. We never went out to dinner because she cooked such amazing food. I still prefer to entertain friends at home and I dont go to restaurants much.

I started cooking for the family and kept experimenting, then I moved on to cooking for friends and girlfriends. When I went overseas at 18, I found that discovering new food is a big part of travelling. People communicate by sharing food its such an enjoyable thing to do.