THE MAKING OF ALL TOGETHER NOW
COOKING SRI LANKAN WITH NIGE
All Together Now has been a labour of love in every sense: inspired by the resilience of our participants, centred around our beautiful community and executed gracefully by the most incredible team and program participants that make up Free to Feed. We were approached by our online partner Squarespace as part of their #launchit series late last year to share a little more from behind the scenes of such a unique moment in time.
It’s been an amazing chance to reflect on all the people and partners who created something truly special in All Together Now!
Sonia, Bianca and Daniel working with Nige on developing and documenting his recipes very early on in the process. This is the first time Nige’s recipes have been recorded and refined in this way!
Initially put into motion because of COVID19, the concept and mission behind All Together Now is something that we've been thinking about for a long time. The challenge being: how do we recreate the magic, curiosity and deliciousness of our in-person cooking experiences with those that cannot come join us in person, at our small but busy HQ in Northcote or host us in their homes. We pulled this challenge apart in every detail, and found new ways of working that continue to place program participants centre stage.
Our incredible film team Cinematographer Nathan Kaso and Director Timothy Melville.
Nige and Participant Support superstar Rhiannon between takes.
With the success of All Together Now Cooking Persian With Mahshid, our small, passionate and ever-optimistic team embarked on a second edition with Nige. We hope to build in All Together Now as part of our program and continue on to document and celebrate many many more food and life journeys!
There are so many moving parts to All Together Now. It’s a special kind of sorcery watching so many beautiful humans working towards a common goal, which itself contains so much goodness. In fact, the journey of bringing All Together Now to life has been as special as the destination itself.
The film crew capturing Nige’s recipes and process for what was to become the cooking films housed within the All Together Now experience.
For All Together Now Edition Two, Nige was at the helm guiding Australians nation wide through a Sri Lankan journey of food and culture showcasing warmth, enthusiasm and resilience. With commitment from the Free to Feed team and an epic roster of collaborators, this came together in a very short time. We were shooting for the stars and we got there!
Producer Bianca and Nige between takes.
Testing testing 1,2,3, more recipe refining and testing with Nige and Sonia!
The team brainstormed with Nige to collaborate on what we wanted Curious Cooks to take away while working with Rhiannon (our program and participant support coordinator) and Daniel (Co-Founder) to nut out exactly what from his remarkable life he wanted to share and say. From there, he worked through his never-before-written-down recipes and created an exciting and vibrant Summer menu with Sonia (overseer of food development and strategy) and Gabs (Front of House Manager).
The recipe booklet!
Monica (Marketing Manager) got started on All Together Now branding specific to Nige. We then started planning film production (with Tim Melville and his team Nathan Kasko and David Ross), and designing the recipe booklet (with help from Ellie, our Community and Experiences Manager who moonlights as a graphic designer), our wonderful Sonia was the brains behind the recipes and ALL details, Rhiannon was her amazing self as providing endless participant support while beautiful illustrations designed by Gemma Leslie came to life. We enlisted photographers Bek Chugg and Catherine Elise to capture the experience throughout different stages and got to work uploading it all onto our Squarespace website where our community can purchase the All Together Now Feast Essentials Kits and cook along to all the instructional films.
The Feast Essentials Kit - delivered to homes around Australia.
Nige in his happy place, BBQ-ing for his friends.
Queen of customer care / stylist / graphic designer and total legend Ellie.
Our front of house manager Gabs has a go at mixing Nige’s Sarbath.
What resulted was, 11 recipes, 11 cooking and storytelling films, one gorgeous recipe booklet, conversation cards and an abundantly filled Feast Essentials Kit packed lovingly by our participants working behind the scenes. All of this has been backed-up with loving support and cheerleading from our CEO and founders Loretta and Daniel Bolotin. It has been the most beautiful example of a well-oiled machine called teamwork.
When you look back, it's all pretty marvelous and quite unbelievable!
– BIANCA CUFFIA, ALL TOGETHER NOW PRODUCER
Learn More: All Together Now