I am lucky enough to attend the first restaurant hosted Eat With Me event at Brunswick East’s Baba and admit to feeling a little nervy; only two hours ago I signed up online, received an event confirmation and here I am about to sit down to a five course Middle Eastern meze with a bunch of strangers.
Herein lies the concept of Eat With Me, a new and unique social network. One that brings people together with food and not only in the online sense, but around restaurant tables, on picnic rugs, over sushi rolling mats and even at the farmers’ market gate.
Eat With Me was launched in October 2010 by four bon vivants Liisa Vurma, Jaanus Torp, Thomas Vaht and Bethany Jones, who are passionate about getting people to share food and eat together, coining their concept around the idea of neighbourhood dining. One of its founders and regular hostess Bethany Jones said, “It’s simple: we want people to eat together, not alone.”
And this is just how the idea came about. As the designer of Eat With Me and tired of eating alone, Liisa Vurma realised food is a forum to meet like-minded people, your neighbours and even people travelling to your country so she came up with the idea to design a website where people could find other people to share a meal with.
“I think food is a focus point where people can share, not only food, but their story as well and Eat With Me is a great way to meet people in your community, especially if you have moved to a new city or neighbourhood. The experience of eating is much more pleasurable when you have someone to share the experience with, and Eat With Me is all about finding that someone.”
“One of my favourite events so far was when eight strangers from different backgrounds attended a wonton making event; not only was it about sharing food but also engaging with another culture through food and it was a fantastic night filled with wantons, wine and great conversation,” Bethany said.
With 2500 members in 64 countries around the world, events are popping up everywhere; from picnics in Buenos Aires and barbecues in Lebanon, to breakfasts in Milan and potluck dinners in Berlin.
Once you sign up to www.eatwithme.net you can register your own event and invite people along or put your name down to attend one of your neighbour’s events.
“If you are nervous about hosting an event I recommend co-hosting with a friend. Besides having someone there to help with the preparations, it’s always fun cooking with a friend,” Bethany added.
“And if you are not ready to cook for other people just yet, you can host an event at your favourite restaurant and invite other Eat With Me members to join you, or another idea is to host a picnic in the park on a Sunday afternoon – a really relaxed way to meet new people.”
Visit www.eatwithme.net for more information.
