After scouring the internet to see if anyone had ever made a Rastafari/Ital cooking show (no one had…) we stumbled upon an amateur youtube video of a Rasta man preparing some soup somewhere deep in the Blue Mountains. It turned out that the Rasta chef in this video was none other than Mokko. His Riverside Cool cottage was part of the Worlds Together Travel Network, a small website that connects travellers with ‘culturally interesting opportunities’ in places like Egypt, India, and Jamaica.
Mokko’s cell # was on the page, so we gave him a call to ask if we could come to Jamaica, stay on his yard and film a cooking show of him doing his thing. He said “Ya man!”
One month later with a tiny budget scraped together, we were in Jamaica eating the best natural food, swimming in waterfalls, and shooting the first season of Ras Kitchen. We had no idea what to expect having never met Mokko in person or seeing the location we were hoping to shoot. After spending the week we knew that at the very least we had something unique to share.
Mokko is definitely not your average cooking show host. He’s 100% himself whether the cameras are rolling or not. He might not tell you exactly how he’s cooking the dish, but he’ll definitely entertain you as he does his thing...
We’re in the process of pitching the show to get it broadcast on a proper network so if you like the show, please comment or send us an email, we’d love to hear from you.
CREW
Matt Pancer aka Shallow Grave
Creator, Co-Producer,Co-Director, Camera, Editor and so on…
When he’s not skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding or running his little video production company Masada Media, he teaches in the TV Broadcasting program at Conestoga College. He’s planning to retire at 35 and live somewhere with a coconut, ackee and/or mango tree in the yard.
…….
Eric Leece aka Killah Bean aka Mashup
Co- Producer, Co-Director, Camera, Graphics and so forth….
Eric has a real job as a commercial producer at one of Canada’s bigger television networks. Matt convinced him to take an ‘all paid vacation’ to Jamaica. Instead he got to work his ass off shooting for 8 days straight in the hot sun…..although there were many moments to have a good soak in the river. Eric ate everything on his plate except for the fishy dishes.
Vivian Henry– Translator
Vivian is from Jamaica and currently resides in Guelph, Canada. He’s got an amazing ear for Jamaican and Patois slang and is an all round awesome guy.