Anybody can throw a dinner party, but few master the art of hosting a great one. If you\u2019ve ever left a friend’s house with a belly full of food and a contact list of new connections, know that someone behind the scenes probably worked hard to make it happen.<\/p>\n
Hosting dinners and curating culinary events takes commitment, organisational skill, an eye for detail, and an even better palette. Crucially, it requires a deep desire to bring people together. Ella Yarnton, founder of community-led initiative Gather, is exactly that kind of person. \u201cMy friends call me the connector!\u201d she tells me over a coffee in a Mitte cafe. \u201cI\u2019ve just always loved bringing people together around the table.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ella has been busy at Gather creating \u201cone-off food experiences\u201d and feeding those hungry for connection since 2020, but her knack for event organisation and fundraising kicked in much earlier. \u201cI\u2019ve always liked to do social initiative work whenever I can,\u201d the 33-year-old creative producer explains. \u201cI think I was around 16 when I worked on my first ever event for a charity.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Ella moved to London from Australia in her twenties, hosting intimate dinner parties felt like the most organic way to make and nurture new connections \u2013 for herself and for new-comers like her. \u201cIn the very international cities I\u2019ve lived in, there\u2019s a lot of people trying to navigate new friendships and find their thing,\u201d she says. \u201cMy way of getting to know someone better was simply to cook for them. I\u2019m definitely that person who will have eight people over for a long lunch \u2013 some of whom might not know each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pop-ups and secret supper clubs were gaining momentum in London at the time, and this \u201cflourishing\u201d scene encouraged Ella to take her own interest a step further. \u201cI thought, ok I can organise things and I have a passion for raising money, how can I do this through food and conversation at the table?\u201d<\/p>\n
In the end, it was unprecedented wildfires happening in her homeland that spurred Ella to host her first big fundraiser. \u201cIt was in late 2019, when the devastating bushfires were happening in Australia,\u201d she explains. \u201cAt the time, we were absorbing so much news through social media and everyone\u2019s fears were heightened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Feeling \u201cisolated and far away\u201d Ella came together with her community to host a 50 person lunch cooked by an Australian chef. The event was a triumph and raised more than $10,000 for a wildlife charity, solidifying in Ella\u2019s mind what Gather\u2019s core purpose should be \u2013 community and food as a catalyst for good. \u201cAfter that event I had the motivation to do it again, and again, and again\u201d she reflects, \u201cI\u2019m on my 15th event now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gather has achieved a lot in its four short years, but it was perhaps when Ella moved to Berlin post-lockdown that an increased interest in her curated gatherings was most noticeable. \u201cFood is a natural connector and conversation starter \u2013 people were keen to connect again after so much solitude.\u201d<\/p>\n
She considers Berlin the perfect home for Gather \u2013 a city that she says is both a \u201ccreative melting pot\u201d and a place where many different cultures meet. She describes community-based food initiatives as \u201cexisting to bring these different cultures together, to celebrate them and to recognise people\u2019s specific identities and roots \u2013 it\u2019s just one potential remedy to the risk of such cultures getting lost in the day-to-day life of Berlin.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Berlin and beyond, Gather continues to grow and gain support. \u201cIntimate dinners and pop-ups are definitely on the rise,\u201d she explains. \u201cPeople are seeking new ways to build connections, outside of partying and work.\u201d But despite an increasingly busy scene, Ella never loses sight of what she set out to do; to help shed a spotlight on those who need it the most. \u201cI prioritise collaborating with under-represented cooks,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s a clear misrepresentation in kitchens- it\u2019s a predominantly white and male environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her passion when speaking about this injustice is clear: \u201cPeople might not even be motivated to enter this industry if they don\u2019t see anyone else that looks like them.\u201d It was during the significant resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, when people in the industry were speaking out about the lack of diversity in hospitality, that Ella realised, \u201cPeople want to see another narrative in the kitchen \u2013 not just The White Chef.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ella acknowledges amateurs and home cooks alike to be \u201cthe real chefs\u201d among us, and often collaborates with those who might not have had formal training but have near-ancient recipes under their belts. \u201cA lot of the people I work with don\u2019t even identify as chefs, but these are also true cooks in my eyes \u2013 those with tried and tested recipes from their grandparents.<\/p>\n
While Ella acknowledges that her hometown Melbourne has an impressive and diverse food scene that \u201creally stands out\u201d, she has always appreciated the recipes, flavours and richness of food cultures different from her own. She says that initiatives like Gather encourage an exploration of and education around other culinary heritages and let people try something they might not have otherwise. \u201cIt\u2019s about removing the barriers, making it accessible, and taking them on a journey during the pop-up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those few words seem to sum up what Gather is all about \u2013 removing barriers, by giving cooks an opportunity to bring their food to a new audience and for that audience to try something outside of their ordinary. Ella recalls an event she hosted with Filipino culinary artist Alexis Convento last year. \u201cAlexis cooked a full Kamayan feast,\u201d she beams. \u201cThe table was covered with banana leaves, we all ate with our hands. Alexis kept adding food to the table like enoki mushrooms, shrimps..rice\u2026it was beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for what\u2019s next for Gather? Ella acknowledges wholeheartedly that \u201cThere\u2019s still a lot of work to do\u201d, but hopes that her work contributes even a small slice towards changing the narrative and stimulating social change. She also wants to expand her offering with more opportunities to her network, perhaps even with a physical space, \u201cI\u2019d love to build up a network of all these people currently existing in Gather\u2019s orbit- to provide a space for them to connect and come together.\u201d<\/p>\n
It seems then that Gather is \u201cever-evolving\u201d \u2013 every year and with each collaboration, with the times, with the community, and most of all their needs.<\/p>\n
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** Ella wears Wells in Brown<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ella’s Recommendations in Berlin<\/em><\/p>\n Lon Men’s Noodle House: <\/a>“I love heading West for food. This is my favourite Taiwanese spot on the buzzing Kantstrasse in Charlottenberg”<\/p>\n Trio:<\/a> “For a casual German Austrian Friday night dining experience. I usually share the backehndl and K\u00f6nigsberger Klopse.”<\/p>\n Oona Bar:<\/a> “Home to Refuge Worldwide, a great drinking spot in\u00a0the heart of the buzzing Neuk\u00f6lln community”<\/p>\n