Sometimes the best idea strikes when you least expect it and this was certainly the case for artist and designer Gemma Leslie of Food For Everyone. “It was a lightbulb moment that just came to me when I was walking down the stairs,” she says. “I always wanted to make recipe posters but pairing them with a chef had never occurred to me.”

Good food and painting have always been part of Gemma’s life but on the sidelines in-between her former day job. “I’ve painted my whole life but at the beginning of the pandemic I was made redundant and needed to make an income, so I started to paint more seriously and sell my work.”

The opportunity to paint with no noise or everyday distractions led Gemma to unlock a talent she’d been secretly harbouring for years. “People started to buy my work and I realised this was maybe something I could pursue.”

Painting for a cause

During Melbourne’s lockdowns, Gemma was motivated to launch Food For Everyone to recognise and celebrate the independent, charitable food banks of Australia that were providing healthy, nutritious meals to those doing it tough.

“It was a bleak time but on the other side there were all of these food banks doing great work,” she says.

Gemma decided to celebrate them herself by launching Food For Everyone, where she was able to unify her love of food and painting. The original concept was to launch a recipe poster series, where Gemma painted recipes supplied to her from four local cooks, then donated sales profits to FareShare.

Two weeks later, she had donated over $30,000 to FareShare. The project was a success and Gemma’s been painting recipe posters ever since, making donations to SecondBite, OzHarvest, and Asylum Seeker Resource Centre to name a few.

Today, Food For Everyone works exclusively with their charity partner SecondBite and donates 10 meals for every poster sold. But since its launch, Food For Everyone has donated over $100,000 to a host of Australian charities, equating to approximately 240,000 meals for people in need.

Food bringing people together

Gemma’s affinity for food and cooking for people was fostered in childhood. “My extended family would always get together to celebrate around the table,” she says. “It was the 1990s and it was never fancy, there were certainly no tablescapes back then, the aim was just to get the family together.”

The simplicity of these get-togethers is something Gemma carried through to adulthood, where she regularly entertains and hosts friends for long lunches and dinner parties – always with a laidback approach with bountiful generosity.

“I love having friends around and spoiling them,” she says.

Summer entertaining, sorted

Gemma’s advice for making summer entertaining stress free include keeping things simple, getting your guests involved with the cooking, and always have a good playlist on-the-go.

“People are always happy to be cooked for and don’t expect a banquet,” she says. “Don’t invent something new and stick to your trusted recipes, if you’re good at making spaghetti Bolognese then make your guests spaghetti Bolognese – just make it the day before because it’s always better.”

Gemma’s also a fan of getting her guests involved in the kitchen. If they offer to bring a plate, she’ll graciously accept and invites them to use her kitchen. “I think getting guests involved, instead of just sitting them down to eat, makes them feel more relaxed.”

In the case of Gemma, no matter the location or occasion, food has the capacity to bring people together – whether it’s around the table, picnic rug or even the lumpy surface of beach towel on the sand.

“We all need to have a meal and it’s much nicer to do when you have people around you that you love.”

Whether you’re hosting or a guest who’s been asked to bring a plate, make entertaining easy this summer with these deceptively simple recipes that guarantee to delight.

Learn more about Food For Everyone here.

By Lisa Marie Corso