Culinary Art

Gratitude and wonder: co-hosting the scent dinner of dreams

Culinary Art, Olfactory Experiences, Sensory Art, Storytelling and Art Making / February 5, 2024

In this month’s longer blog, Lisa Witter and I reflect on our co-creation and co-hosting of our first bespoke scent dinner: “The Ethereal Feast”. If our offering resonates with you, please get in touch.

In a world where we spend increasing amounts of time on our computers and cell phones, we often find ourselves feeling alone together, despite being constantly connected. In an age increasingly dominated by machines and AI, we are reminded that what makes us human is our consciousness, self-awareness, creativity, empathy, and ability to experience and express emotion. A scent dinner is a sensual and communal experience that satisfies a craving many of us have but often overlook. It allows us to sit in awe of the human experience.

Our scent dinner “The Ethereal Feast” is a unique and immersive experience that offers a journey through food, conversation, and introspection. It involves a carefully curated menu that engages all the senses, including taste, smell, sight, touch, and sound. The rhythm of the courses, surprises, and conversations unfold organically throughout the scent dinner experience

Lisa writes:

Ines is a unique and valuable asset to society – an artist who intuitively captures emotions and translates them into art, enabling us to experience these feelings firsthand. Our collaboration on this scent dinner led to a successful co-creation that resonated with a diverse global community.

Participants immersed themselves and savored what mattered to them – they reflected deeply and committed to savoring more in their lives, activating gratitude from within. Gratitude, a powerful tool, helps us to focus on what we are blessed with, rather than on what we lack. Scientific evidence shows that gratitude triggers physiological changes in our bodies activating the parasympathetic nervous system, aiding rest and digestion. This bodily response means that gratitude can lower blood pressure and heart rate and promote overall relaxation. And who doesn’t need that these days?

Ines’ artistry and our collaboration have not only created a unique scent dinner experience but contributed to the well-being of every participant. Her work, and our collaboration, are a testament to the power of art and gratitude in shaping our human experience and promoting health and relaxation. Now, we aim to expand this experience around the world.

I love bringing people together, to me life is like a grand mosaic. The vibrant tiles of the small moments come together to form a bigger, more striking design. It’s all about observing the various facets of experience as they interact with each other. Our scent dinners are a culmination of flavors, wonders, laughter, curious glances, touches, and the deliberate savoring of every moment.

Lisa and Ines write:

The participants of our scent dinner were deeply moved. It opened up their senses and created new connections within themselves and with their dinner partners. Their testimonials highlight how our scent dinners offer a dining experience that transcends the ordinary, engaging people on multiple sensory levels and fostering deep connections between them.

Ramona Liberoff recalls the magic of an evening that turned strangers into lifelong friends.

Hrund Gunnsteinsdottir recounts surrendering to the sensory journey we co-curated, which created a blend of awe-inspiring tastes, sounds, and shared laughter, all suspended within a singular physical space and moment in time.

Tracy Gray, a practicing Buddhist, emphasizes the rarity of being fully present and describes our scent dinner as a unique opportunity to reach this state – in a fun way.

Cassie Robinson speaks to the heightened feelings and sensations that the dinner encourages, enjoying the mystery and connection it fosters.

Sana Kapadia reflects on the dinner as a sensual and surreal event that engages all the senses and emphasizes the art of savoring.

April Rinne sees the dinner as not just an exploration of the senses, but also a metaphorical journey that continues to inspire her through a menu-turned-artwork at home.

Geraldine Chin Moody describes the scent dinner as a unique immersion in nature and humanity that brought home the importance of self-care, community, and environmental stewardship

We love how these accounts collectively capture our intentions for the scent dinner. This immersive experience is not only about the food but is also about the deeper exploration of presence, connection, and the human experience, curated lovingly to leave a lasting impact on all of its participants.

Image credits:
B&W: Jana Pahlke
Color: Ines Lechleitner

Food Creatures: the joys and challenges of food art photography

Culinary Art / March 30, 2022

food art, reduce food waste, plant based food, food photography, branding photography Recently, I started doing website branding photography for the new lobe lokal at Lobe Block in Wedding, Berlin. The core part of this role is to photograph brand new dishes for the restaurant – colourful culinary creations designed to wow the senses… truly, food art! Photographing (and filming) delicious ingredients, vibrant fruits, earthy vegetables, and magical cooking processes has always been at the heart of my own artistic practice. Given my double profession – as an artist and a cook – these crossovers come naturally. 

However, what I have been discovering from this branding photography work is that being faced with food art born from someone else’s imagination and hands – truly capturing its structure, its colours, its consistencies, as well as creating an image that conveys its nurturing richness – is a totally different endeavour. 

food art, reduce food waste, plant based food, food photography, branding photography Truthfully, this process of capturing the essence of the new dishes felt like meeting delicate creatures, each one a story of its own. They addressed me with their demands: meet me, look at me, study me, show me. And – for their photographer, me – it’s a race against time. They fade, they stick, they dry up, they keep changing and, once they change, there is no turning back.

After the first session, I found that I was both deeply exhausted and moved.

food art, reduce food waste, plant based food, food photography, branding photography So I was really glad to join a food art photography session led by the wonderful Erin Lang – musician, chef, and founder of Bloom & Echo – and her partner Sam. Joining their team for this project, I was able to observe her wonderful way of approaching this new set of culinary creations.

And, since depicting the working process and its many creative layers has long been a core subject in my own work, it was a real pleasure to combine these worlds once again.

Food waste reduction: going bananas!

Culinary Art, Food & conservation / December 22, 2021

Food waste is a painful part of everyday life for me – and so many other people around me. We order or buy fixed quantities of what we think we’ll use, but it’s actually really hard to predict the exact amounts that we’ll use in the end. And then – due to a combination of a lack of time, imagination, and pure habit – we end up throwing away uneaten food on a daily basis.

food waste reduction, easy fermenting recipe, fermented banana recipe, creative food waste reduction

I’m no exception to these bad habits. Some of the products I buy are poor quality and go to waste before being eaten, while others are better quality but sit too long in the fridge and get overlooked. However, the good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way! Food waste reduction is easy and fun.

There are a few habits I’ve incorporated into my daily practice in the kitchen that I can highly recommend. 

First up, with any bread that starts to go stale or dry, I chop it up into small cubes, then I dry them out in the oven. It takes just a minute or two! These little cubes form the base for savoury knödel delights, which make an appearance in my kitchen on a regular basis. In fact, one of my kids’ favourites is the delicious, doughy south Tyrolean spinatknödel (feel free to get in touch with me for this wonderful food waste reduction recipe).

food waste reduction, easy fermenting recipe, fermented banana recipe, creative food waste reduction Second, let’s go back to the title of this blog: going bananas! Bananas are a precious fruit, but when they start to go brown, no-one in my family will touch them. I used to get worried when this happened – I’m not a fan of banana bread! Now, instead of feeling worried about the food waste, I feel excited because I adore the fermented banana recipe I’ve recently discovered.

I’d love to share it with you…

food waste reduction, easy fermenting recipe, fermented banana recipe, creative food waste reduction

  • Take a 500ml glass jar and fill it with 250ml filtered water.
  • Then dissolve 2 tablespoons of cane sugar into the water.
  • Next, add 2 tablespoons of whey (molke in German), water kefir, or the powder from one probiotic capsule.
  • Chop 2 ripe bananas into 2cm slices and add them to the liquid.
  • Close the jar lid and let it sit in a warm, dark place for 2-4 days.
  • After this time has passed, check the taste and when it seems ready, move it to the fridge.
  • Once fully chilled, this fermented mixture keeps for more than a week.

What I find so thrilling about the outcome of this amazing food waste reduction recipe is the sour, fresh, sparkly character of the drink – in combination with the calming taste of this spectacular fruit.

I like to blitz it in the morning and drink it as beautifully refreshing breakfast. I love the fizzing feeling that spreads throughout my entire body as I sip it. Plus, I have to say that it makes an excellent base for cocktail experiments…

long live living cocktails! Prost!

And it’s not just about bananas and breakfast and cocktails. For example, the fruit skins and vegetable peelings that I used to throw away now get used as a starter for homemade vinegar or cleaning products. The same goes for that tired cucumber or beetroot forgotten at the back of the fridge.

food waste reduction, easy fermenting recipe, fermented banana recipe, creative food waste reduction Plus, pickled or fermented foods are natural super foods that have healing qualities and can be eaten without any cooking involved. This makes them the perfect lunch at work combined with simple warm ingredients such as boiled potatoes, rice, or other grains. And, as they’re already prepared and seasoned, having a jar in my fridge saves me time and energy on a daily basis.

Ultimately, I guess it’s this turn from guilt and concern to excitement and curiosity that has really gotten me hooked on fermentation processes as food waste reduction. The truly great thing about fermenting, is that – once the raw ingredients have been chopped up and prepared – time does all the work and I only need to check in occasionally (like saying hi to a friend!) until it’s ready. So, let me know how you get on with this fermentation recipe. I hope you enjoy!