— In an age of online dating, profile pics, swipe rights and high divorce rates, many hopeful Australians are turning to the ancient traditions of matchmaking to find ‘the one’. 'The Matchmakers' goes behind the scenes of Australia’s traditional Jewish, Muslim and Hindu matchmakers as they help singles in the universal quest for love in contemporary Australia. Watch the trailer and stream the episodes from . —
I am currently single and open to dating.
I haven’t had a serious relationship with a man I’d call my boyfriend or partner for around seven years. But I’m hopeful and I'd love to find my match one day.
In a perfect world, there are a few things my future partner would have, including a love of food.
To me, food is love. It’s family. I am a Uruguayan-Australian and grew up in a household where sharing food around the table was central to relationships. We spent time with people over food. My grandmother was an amazing cook and my mother still is. Everything came from the plate – energy, warmth and love.
What I have found though are some good and bad dates where, even if the food wasn’t great, it was still a lot better than the date.
So it’s important to me that I can share food with a future partner. We would enjoy going to dinner together. We’d cook for each other and with each other.
I haven’t found ‘that’ guy yet. What I have found though are some average and bad dates where, even if the food wasn’t great, it was still a lot better than the date.
I once met this guy after matching with him on Hinge. He seemed fine the first time we met, so we agreed to another date. He came to my side of town and parked his car outside my place. The plan was that we would walk down to my local pizzeria together and have dinner.
Now before you judge me for dating over pizza when I claim to be a food lover, I need to remind you that digital dating is hard. People aren’t always who they say they are online and you don’t know you’re a match until you meet in person, possibly a few times. So that’s why a lot of us single folk don’t have a formal dinner straight away. Pizza, on the other hand, is casual, shareable and it's quite the non-committal dish. It's also served on a lot of menus - bars, clubs, restaurants, cafes, pizza is pretty common. What could go wrong with a bubbling hot pizza anyway? Well, apparently a lot.
People aren’t always who they say they are online and you don’t know you’re a match until you meet in person, possibly a few times.
The walk from my place to the pizzeria was seven minutes and I swear my date complained for the full 420 seconds of that commute.
As soon as we walked into the pizza place, he practically yelled his order at the staff – he didn’t even reach the counter. I said to him, ‘Could we please just sit down first?’ He was really hungry apparently and we were still standing up.
He didn’t even ask what kind of pizza I wanted to eat or what I felt like. That said a lot! My pizza opinions didn’t matter, obviously.
When we sat down at a table, I asked him if we could also get some garlic bread to share. Oh, now didn’t that wind him up!
“Garlic bread?” he said. “Why would we get garlic bread? Garlic bread is shit.” Wow! Okay...
I never got my garlic bread. But I did order an extra glass of wine so I could try and figure out how to manage this date. I declined dessert and I couldn't wait to get out of there.
Get your garlic bread fix
Best garlic bread
The whole date lasted an hour – that included the 14 minutes it took to walk to and from my house. When we arrived outside my place, I said "I’ve got to go. I’ve got stuff I need to do on my laptop". He asked, "do you need to work?" and I said "no".
... [Crickets] ...
To be honest, he was so negative the whole time we were on our second date and I felt quite strongly and how he approached and dismissed my love of garlic bread. That’s where I drew the line. I just can’t be with someone who talks like that about garlic bread.
I went on another Hinge date. He was nice, but I just didn’t feel that spark. He was very generous and wouldn't let me pay for anything, even though I insisted. Before we left, he reached over the leftover pizza (yes, pizza!) on the table and planted a kiss on me. It was quite awkward. The pizza was average and I didn't want the kiss. But even still, the bad pizza was better than the date.
I just can’t be with someone who talks like that about garlic bread.
Although I love food and want a guy who I can share food with, that does not mean that the deal has been sealed. There’s a lot more to it than that. Attraction, sharing similar values and having other things in common are still all very important to me.
Call me crazy but I also want to find a guy who doesn’t turn their back on garlic bread!
Right now, while dating is pretty much focused on the apps, it’s certainly not easy. But I believe that one day, I will match with someone right whether that be on the apps, in person or perhaps while I enjoy a slice of garlic bread at my local pizzeria and look up to find another who feels the same, who knows?
Hopefully, I’ll get to that fourth or fifth date, explore other menu items with a guy who enjoys eating food with lots of garlic, salt and a tonne of flavour - and we’ll order food other than pizza.
*Not the interviewee's real name.
