You’re giving your energy and time to this. What do you get in return?
Seeing these happy faces of people dancing or enjoying food gives me a lot of joy and gratitude. You’re able to make people happy, to make them dance. I think that’s also why I chose to be a social worker. I like to work with people. I like to help. I like to give them a good feeling and a good energy. It gives me a lot in return. I feel very grateful to be part of this and create this life here in Faro. Besides allowing me to forget all the stress in my life. Just dance, eat, enjoy, love!
It seems that you found a balance between a slower life and, at the same time, playing music and doing events, especially with the new collective Laranja Violeta. Can you introduce us to this collective?
It actually came to me really randomly. My flatmate Kim said she met with people who wanted to create a collective, and that maybe I should join. I didn’t know what their plan was. But I joined them and discovered they had the same idea to create something new in Faro. Because these collectives already exist in Lisbon, Porto, and other areas. But here in Algarve, I feel it was kind of missing. So, our idea is to exactly fill this. To create a vibe and events where everybody’s welcome and it’s not only about music, but also about art and good food and just enjoying the time together. This is pretty much how we started: we miss something, so why not do it ourselves?
Regarding good food, can you tell us more about your vegan kebabs’ activity?
My connection and my love of making food started when I was really little. Both my grandmothers were great cooks. Whenever I was in their house, I would observe what they were doing and help them. Later, I started organising dinners for my friends and I felt it was something I really enjoyed. One day I had a conversation with my best friend Franzi, who is a great painter artist. And I was thinking how creative she is. I felt I didn’t have that much creativity. And she said to me “Luzi, you create recipes, you know which spices to use, this is being creative as well”! So, I ended up convincing myself that maybe my most creative side is making food. Also, I don’t eat meat. I like to create a lot of things vegan and vegetarian. The kebab idea came up here in this house. I made a dinner for some friends, in which I made this kebab for the first time. And their feedback was “you should do a business with this, we don’t have this in Faro, nobody makes vegan kebab”! And I was like “yeah, maybe I should”! So, it was really from a dinner to two weeks later, I met these people from the collective and I was there with my little grill making the kebab. I had people who came to the Laranja Violeta event and said: I’m only here for the kebab. So, thank you!!
Last one, to add to our Spotify playlist! Can you share with us a song that has the power to bring different people together?
One of my all-time favourites, and with which I have many beautiful memories with close friends. That’s definitely a song I have connected and danced to with many people. And every time I play it, people start singing it loud and dancing! It’s: “Believe” by Cher.
