Is choreromance the future of dating?

In a love culture built around restaurants and grand gestures, a new approach is emerging; one that is simpler, but no less meaningful (Photo: Gemini)

It is 7:30 p.m. in Nairobi's city centre. Matatus honk and hum as the energised tout calls out for the worn-out office worker looking for a ride home. A young lady weaves her way through the sea of humanity in answer to the tout's call. Let us call her Annie. Annie is in love and does not want to keep Dave, her fiance, waiting. She has been looking forward to this evening for weeks. But wait, theirs will not be the usual dating with folks and knives slicing through pieces of well-done steak and wine glasses clinking at one of Nairobi's fancy restaurants.

The two will spend the early evening at Dave's house, chopping onions, cutting sukumawiki and stirring ugali. Following the hearty meal, Dave and Annie will head to the kitchen sink, where she will lather the dishes while he rinses and dries them with a piece of cloth, doing all this with laughter before bidding each other goodnight. And this, friends, is dating with a peculiar name, choremance, or a trend where lovebirds turn everyday chores such as shopping, cooking, or cleaning into shared bonding experiences.