Former Newcastle journalist Georgia Maher has combined her love of food and travel to make a stunning debut documentary that goes to air on Sunday on the SBS Food channel.
Maher and fellow Australian cinematographer Tom Anlezark made Hungry for More: Spain during the pandemic lockdown in 2021 and 2022. Maher was based in the UK, working for the BBC and freelancing, and Anlezark was based in Barcelona.
Together they hatched the plan for the show and executed it with a small crew, all of it self-funded.
The energetic show with a youthful feel and stylish cinematography covers three unique dining and travel experiences in the Catalonia region of north-east Spain: the lively streets of Barcelona, the rugged coastline of the Costa Brava, and the rolling vineyards of Penedes.
Maher, still working in London, answered questions about the show.
Have you made a whole series?
Hungry for More: Spain is a stand alone episode on our mutual adoration for the state of Catalonia. It's our hope to film more episodes in Spain.
Where else is it going to air?
It premieres in Australia but we're exploring a few other exiting options.
How did you team up with Tom?
I moved to London in March of 2020 with spectacular timing, just a week before lockdown hit here in the UK, which posed many challenges but also created this amazing opportunity.
To keep spirits up, my friend and director on the show, Tom Anlezark, and I would spend time on the phone keeping each other creatively engaged when work was slim during the first lockdown. One day we were spitballing ideas together and thought, 'Why don't we use the downtime to try out some ideas that we wouldn't have the scope to when we're busy with work'. As soon as restrictions eased, I flew down to Barcelona and we played around and put a segment together. Not thinking much of it, we sent it around to a few contacts and the feedback was overwhelming. By this time the second lockdown was looming. When 2021 rolled around I spent the summer going back and forth to Catalonia working on it with Tom and our wonderful crew.
We had this tenacity to make our own luck in what was otherwise a really difficult time for people in the industry. Looking back on that time now, I'm immensely proud of us for finding perseverance in a turbulent time.
Where did your food confidence come from?
Many places, many experiences, many people. My upbringing in the Hunter Valley has been extremely influential. The experience of dining is just one element. It's the people behind dishes, the stories, the farmers. Chefs like Troy Rhoades-Brown and Robert Molines have always been so giving with their time and knowledge. My parents [Gus and Louise Maher] also played a leading role. Growing up with parents in the tourism, wine and food industry, it was bound to happen. It's never lost on me how privileged my brother Dean and I were to travel from a young age. Much to our disdain when we were young, we were only allowed to eat local cuisine wherever we went. McDonald's was forbidden. We developed this insatiable curiosity for food. I now travel to eat. There's so much to be learnt from a country, city or in Spain's case, town, through its food.
Why Spain?
Few countries arrest the senses as much as Spain. And Spain is incredibly diverse in culture, landscape and food. Tom is married to a wonderful Catalan woman, Clara. So naturally we've spent a lot of time there together. It felt only natural for our first piece should be filmed there.
What's next?
We'd like to continue in Spain, however whispers of Australia are getting louder. A trip home might be on the cards. If not, Argentina has piqued our interest.
How does your show stand out from other food shows?
We have a down to earth approach on Hungry For More. So many food and travel shows bounce through major cities at speed. We want to hear the stories of young people taking on their traditions, as well as challenge the way we travel.
How challenging was the language barrier?
Hungry for More is in three languages; English, Spanish, and Catalan. I only speak one - no prizes for guessing which one! It took a lot of pre-planning, and spending time with the wonderful people we interviewed to get to know them as well as I could with the language barrier. Tom speaks both Spanish and Catalan. He's naturally a very warm and kind person so he was able to direct impeccably in three languages and make everyone, myself included, feel at ease. He blew me away!
What are you doing now?
I work as a freelance journalist at the BBC (on the BBC News Channel) and a producer-director when exciting projects come along.
Your fashion sense is outstanding. Was that all on your own?
Yes, all my own. I took great care in curating each scene with the atmosphere of the location and interview. It starts off vibrant and fun, which is the Maleducat boys [Barcelona restaurant] in a nutshell. I purchased a few items from a wonderful vintage buyer, Ruth Vout, from the store VOUT on the famous Columbia Road in London. I have a penchant for sustainable fashion. It was tricky sourcing clothes during lockdowns but next time I'd love to work more closely with independent Australian brands.
Did you have any notable incidents?
We went to Maleducat the night before our shoot to have dinner with the team after service, which in Spain is obviously late. Around 2am, and a few bottles of wine later, we sensibly called it quits. But 2am on Saturday in Barcelona is basically still the afternoon.
While Tom and I went home to prep, I'm convinced the Maleducat boys came from the discoteque straight to the kitchen - and with absolute ease I might add. We had the most hilarious morning filming. Afterwards they made us the most delicious Sunday lunch, invited all their friends around and we ate all afternoon in the sunshine like time didn't exist. I remember looking around the long table in this side street in Barcelona that afternoon and thinking the Catalans and Spanish really know how to do life. That's when I learnt of the phrase "veranear" which loosely means "to summer." I wish I could've bottled that day up.
