Dan May was born in south west London in 1969. In 1972 he moved with his parents and baby sister to Somerset and that was the beginning of the end. Without a full time job to keep her occupied his mother decided that he should not only learn to cook but do so with an independent mind. So from a very young age he started to ignore conventional wisdom and set out upon a rather haphazard path through life.
His love of music and lack of a better idea led him to tour some of the least pleasant venues in Britain and Europe in various bands before a brief stint working as a lighting engineer was ended by a St Patrick's Day incident involving Guinness, a very high lighting rig and cavalier approach to risk assessment.
For the next 13 years Dan travelled and worked as a landscape photographer, producing images that were used by companies all over the world. His love of some of the most remote places in the world first brought him into close contact not only with chillies, but with people who cooked with them and loved them. A relationship developed that was quite unintentionally life-changing.
Dan grew some chillies as a hobby in 2005 and before he knew it he had the world's most northerly chilli farm and had accidentally changed career (again). Trees Can't Dance now supplies an ever growing range of chilli saucery throughout the UK, Europe, the Middle East and beyond. Everything is lovingly made by hand at TCD HQ, just a few miles from where the business started.
Always ready with an opinion Dan is frequently quoted in national press with regard to the latest trends in chillies and spicy food. His current favourite topics are the blight of the "Australian question inflection" and "the technicalities of facing wrist spin on a deteriorating pitch". Although he is yet to be asked about these he is forever optimistic.
