For their Christmas party last year, the Hungry Workshop team took part in a Feed to Feed cooking class. ‘Everyone had such a fantastic time cooking and hearing about Nayran’s journey to Australia from Syria,’ recalls Co-Founder, Designer and Letterpress Printer Jenna Hipgrave. ‘We love our community, and decided that we wanted to support the project in our own way by doing something that would help raise funds, as well as giving people a taste of what Free to Feed does.’
The generous local business came up with the idea for a ‘cookzine’ that would compile delicious recipes with beautiful illustrations, and at the same time show their appreciation for the diverse cultures that make up our community. ‘We were so humbled and really pumped to be a part of their altruistic and creative endeavour,’ comments Loretta Bolotin, Co-founder and Creative Director of Free to Feed. ‘It’s a small but diverse collection of recipes and stories brought to Australia by people seeking asylum, including recipes from Iran, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Syria,’ she adds, ‘…the kind of dishes you’d be proud to cook up for your own potluck celebrations this festive season!’
Northcote-based Hungry Workshop approached sponsors and curated a star-studded line-up of Melbourne illustrators including Carla McRae, Spencer Harrison, Oslo Davis, Evie Cahir, Ellen Porteus and Alice Oehr for the project. Isabel Johnson of Ed Supreme also generously donated her time and writing expertise to work with each of the contributing cooks to convey their stories as well as recipes found in the zine.
Hungry Workshop really strove to design the publication in a way that reflect the feel of a Free to Feed cooking class. ‘There are all kinds of different people coming together to share food and their experiences so we used a range of typefaces with a broad and energetic colour palette,’ explains Jenna. For the cover, they utilised unique in-house techniques, including rainbow holographic foil and letterpress printing in yellow ink. And going above-and-beyond, a series of limited-edition illustration prints have also all been letterpress printed by hand on their Asbern Proof Press and kindly framed by United Measures.
‘Hopefully those that have been to Free to Feed will enjoy reliving the experience through the publication, and those that haven’t yet will be inspired to come along to a class,’ says Jenna. ‘Everyone loves food, everyone loves stories, everyone loves art; ‘Potluck’ has something for everyone!’
The Potluck cookzine is available online here or in-person at:
‘Potluck’ cookzine launch and prints exhibition
Thursday December 7th, 6 – 9pm.
Hungry Workshop
461 High Street Northcote
Free to Feed are also really excited to have recently launched their own range of herbs and spice blends, available from their online store – useful, aromatic stocking fillers for everyone!?
