“Cooked Radio is love — I would describe it as a ceremony,” the founders say. “It’s a ceremony that brings the [local] community together.”

It started as a house party at Gabriel and Gera’s home, gradually opening its doors to more people before exploding in popularity.

“I take a lot of inspiration from the way Latino parties work, because we Latinos, we’re very warm people,” Miguel says. “The way we party and the way we connect with family, there’s always music going, people dancing, and obviously there’s food. I feel like that’s how families connect back home, and we bring a little bit of that culture and shine a light on that.”

That feeling of being welcomed into someone’s home remains central to Cooked Radio. Food, music and photography capturing the warmth of the crowd and performers have become the ingredients behind its growing following.

“We’re literally inviting you to share what we love the most,” Gera says. “Here, anybody can cook. That includes the meals and the music.”

What sets Cooked Radio apart isn’t simply its pairing of food and music, but the communal spirit surrounding it.

“We love food. We love music. It’s just the way we live,” the founders say. “When you walk into this space, we’re all the same. We’re all people just trying to have fun and meet like-minded people.”

Each event showcases sounds and flavours from different cultures around the world, often centring the cuisine of a particular country alongside an eclectic soundtrack.

“It’s very, very multicultural,” they say. “It’s a representation of Vancouver, of what this ‘no-fun’ city has to offer. We’re actually quite fun — you just have to dig for it.”

And Cooked Radio is only getting started. As its identity and events continue to evolve, the team is looking beyond the house-party format for new ways to bring food, music and people together. They tease the possibility of taking Cooked Radio on the road, throwing bigger parties and finding new ways to share the communal spirit that started it all.

For a city that’s supposedly no fun, Cooked Radio is making a convincing case that Vancouver might just need better invitations.