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Our mission is to engage in activities centered on food-based community initiatives and to support educational, literary, and other charitable endeavors.
"Clairzie Julce Mervil, more than an inspiration, she made sure everybody ate" Manny
If you want to hate and do that, it’s not gonna work.
Together, we’re stronger.
You can’t want support but not give support
—I hope that catches on out here.
Emmanuel Mervil
Manny's path away from the mess hall toward better meals started in 2015, when a probation officer steered him into a 16-week program at New England Culinary Arts Training. Along with other jobs to get back on his feet, he went to work at Morell’s BBQ in Stoughton. The restaurant world seemed like the ideal realm, but the question was where he belonged within that vast universe. Social media offered an answer. “I’m trying to make people want this food,” he says. “If I like it, I want them to say, Damn. I just like food, man. And if I don’t like it, I try not to post it.”
His passion is on full display while maneuvering his iPhone 13 around a plate of grilled octopus at Eva in Back Bay. As someone who tends to find posting tedious and burdensome, I ask how he operates with such pro-level nonchalance. barely letting filming or tagging interrupt his meal. “I’ve always been chill,” he explains, “but I’ve been through hell, man. Sometimes you just need to deal with shit. I’m trying to enjoy myself.”
His strategy is rooted in the idea that other people basically want the same thing. Again, the motto: everybody gotta eat. “People work hard,” he says. “At the end of the day, people want to eat well. They just want to go out, eat, and have a drink like everyone else.” Through pic-snapping, catering—“I have a network of chefs,” EGE says—and larger-scale events like showcases in Boston, he’s showing that there’s strength in numbers, and that collaboration can move groups of people closer to those simple common goals. “I tell people to pull up, invite all their friends, and network,” he says. “It’s all about promoting these brands. “If you want to hate and do that, it’s not gonna work. Together, we’re stronger. You can’t want support but not give support—I hope that catches on out here.”
Reference: DigBoston
Emmanuel Mervil
President
Maiysha Jacob
Treasurer
Kessen Green
Clerk
Manoucheca Lord
Director
Bringing people together through free barbecues, Manny was awarded the Cambridge! Social Innovation Award by the Cambridge Community Foundation.
Dedication and hard work earned Manny the Martin Luther King Jr. Drum Major for Entrepreneurship Award from the NAACP, Cambridge Branch
Jaylen Brown And Partners Announce Everybody Gotta Eat Will Benefit From $100K In Funding Thanks To The Boston Xchange
Being recognized for our actions and impact
Showcasing a proclamation
from the City of Cambridge, 2024.
Business leaders of Black Owned Bos., Everybody Gotta Eat, BECMA talk about the power of entrepreneurship
Next Up for Boston Food Influencer Everybody Gotta Eat: A Food Truck
Meet the Phantom Behind Greater Boston's Awesome Food Feed Everybody Gotta Eat
Manu featured on WBZ participating in a Juneteenth Celebration, 2023.
Meet the 10 small business owners who will get up to $100,000 from Jaylen Brown and Jrue and Lauren Holiday
Cambridge NAACP celebrates winners of Imagined in Cambridge! Social Innovation Award at 38th MLK Brunch
Jaylen Brown And Partners Announce Founders Who Will Benefit From $100K In Funding Thanks To The Boston Xchange
Jayson Tatum spotted at Cambridge community BBQ event
Manny's story begins with his mother helping families from Haiti, hiding them in the house from immigration, and helping them get started in America. She was always helping people. Manny inherited her spirit and desire to help others by spreading his generosity through food.
After coming home from prison, and trying to figure out what to do, he fell back to a once loved idea. Since the age of 13, he wanted to open a restaurant. So after culinary school and working in various food related jobs. Looking back, Manny says he’s been on a long, somewhat roundabout path to his current role as a food influencer and small-enterprise supporter.
“I’ve just been building relationships since I was young,” he says. In addition to his Insta grind, EGE helps run the clothing brand Nckls & Dimes and its flagship boutique on Centre Street in JP. He continues, “If I can help somebody, I’m gonna make it happen. My mom always gave back. This is in my blood. I really live by it, everybody gotta eat. If you have a business, I’m posting about it. From very early on, Manny has always been a fan of food. His passion goes back to grabbing meatball subs at long-gone deli and variety store across from the projects he grew up in near MIT. “That place was legendary,” he recalls fondly. Even during hard times he had food on the brain.