Concept

As part of the degree show we met every week to discuss what had been done and what tasks needed to be carried out. However, half way through the year this process had become rather tedious. We felt we needed a break from the meetings. Rathna, our tutor, suggested we should run a workshop colleagues of hers had set up on the Ma at Central Saint Martins. Annagrete Molhave & Paulus Dreibholz had conceived a workshop that involved a day of cooking for creatives.

The day

We announced that, that weeks meeting would hold a mysterious workshop and collected the names of the people who were interested in taking part. On the day they showed up people were split into five groups and asked to pick out a piece of folded paper. On the sheet of paper was a nationality. If a member of their group was of that nationality they had to re-pick until it was not the case.

We then briefed them that they were not to do any form of design that day, and that their purpose was to cook. Teams were asked to venture off and research their given nationality, the aim was to find out its national-cuisines and to learn how to cook them. However, all of this information had to be obtained through social interactions, whether that meant going to Brick Lane to an Indian restaurant and speaking to the cook, or going to a Turkish supermarket in Haringey and speaking to the staff there. There was certainly no internet, no phones and i-phones used in the process.

The end of the day

By the end of the day each group was to bring back their prepared food to the studio and group by group present their dishes and share their experiences of the day.

While all made amazing food, including the famous French snails, some went further and made their own menus and unifroms to wow the crowd.

It was a fantastic evening. A humble candle lit table laid with newspaper transformed the studio into something magical. The aromas of the eclectic dishes fused into a delightful aroma and the food was brilliant. It was a day well spent!

Publication

As a part of the workshop we wanted to produce a publication for everyone who took part and contributed. We focussed the publication on what dishes were cooked and how each group obtained the recipe for each dish, as it was clear from the evening that the stories from each group were not only highly fascinating but their individual experiences varied greatly. The publication was letterpress printed and is available from YCN online shop for £3.