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They were born in the United States more than a century ago as dinners organized by non-professional cooks in places outside what we understand as restaurants, from the living room table of a private home to rented premises or fashionable stores. After the pandemic, the so-called supper clubs experienced a resurgence as a way to reconnect with others in a new normality. Since then, projects that bring strangers together over food have been popping up all the time.
Fondo Supper Club: art and gastronomy
Fondo Supper Club was born from the need to bring a difficult world that can seem elitist, such as contemporary art and galleries, to a wider public. Food has the potential to create bridges and make abstract processes more enjoyable, and for this creative food studio it was clear: “to translate concepts into edible situations”. Belén Cabello (designer), Nora Silva (director and artist), Sara Oldenburg (sommelier) and Marta Moya (chef) are the four legs on which Fondo stands. All of them are under 30 years old, which has led them to be recognized within the list of 100 young talents of the Basque Culinary Center.
Its path began two years ago with a dinner linked to the work of artist Esther Merinero. For Belén, one of the members, “it was like a kind of self-commissioned project”. From there they went on to contact young galleries that represent artists of their generation, such as Pradiauto or El Chico.
The dinners, which are held in these spaces every two months, do not exceed 30 diners and cost around 75 € including a cocktail and a welcome snack to enjoy while viewing the exhibition, and a tasting menu with food and wine pairing. In an act of commitment to the environment and reflection on their role within the food industry, the food they offer at their performative dinners is always vegetarian (except on one occasion when they cooked insects) and they recognize that this positioning has led them to lose some customers.
Within their activist line, they present themselves, above all, as a team of women in an attempt to counteract the lack of female presence in the hospitality sector. Their proposal is expanding and now they are preparing other ways of working such as biomaterials workshops, cooking courses and a store where they sell objects designed by them in which they recycle leftover materials from their events. The more daring can purchase a seat blindly in advance, without knowing where or when it will be at a lower price.
Second Sunday Supper Club: fun and connection
A little over a year ago Georgina Hotson, a British woman who has been living in Spain for 12 years, started Second Sunday. With a different approach, her idea was not to cook, but to make it easier for people who wanted to organize dinners in their homes to do so in a simple way. Under the Second Sunday platform, the hosts have control over the theme, the type of cuisine and tableware to be served, or to launch a phrase that serves as a framework during the dinner and facilitates conversation between strangers. The only thing that is bounded is the price. “We are aware of the average salaries in Spain and we intend to make the dinners accessible to most people, so we advise hosts to set the price between 35 and 40 euros, including drinks,” says Hotson.
Participating in these meetings has other advantages, such as having the opportunity to see the inside of some emblematic and cinematographic buildings like Torres Blancas, an incentive to satisfy the curiosity of architecture lovers.
“It all started for the love of food, but I realized that people are in need of meeting new people and they don’t want to interact through apps. After the pandemic, people feel very lonely and need another kind of contact. Real friendships have come out of our dinners,” she says. Her success was overwhelming and tickets for these meetings sold out quickly, which led Hoston to think about opening new business channels. In addition to extending its super club to cities such as Barcelona and Valencia, Second Sunday now also organizes events in larger spaces that can accommodate a larger number of attendees. They have even orchestrated collaborations that bring international projects such as New York’s Lucky Dinner Club to Madrid.
From home cooking to Spanish izakaya
Laura Ochoa has been preparing dinners at home for two years. Like most people around the world, Ochoa took to cooking during confinement. Unable to perform her job as an art director on shoots, she needed to channel her hyperactive nature and began to study culinary processes and organize small dinners with friends and people close to her where she could showcase everything she had learned. These gastronomic gatherings with friends meant more to Ochoa than just sharing a table, as she confesses that for some years she has been suffering from an eating disorder and finds it less difficult to eat in company.
More and more participants joined the table she prepared at her partner’s house and at a certain point her menus became more sophisticated and Ochoa began to seek financial support to be able to carry them out. “I feel a lot of pleasure when I see that people enjoy what I cook. I wanted to share it with more people than just my friends and create a menu that was structured, because cooking makes me very happy,” says Ochoa.
He defines his proposal as “Spanish Izakaya” because of his predilection for oriental cuisine, which he handles with ease and with which he delights the few attendees. Six is the maximum number of people that this improvised Japanese tavern in a private apartment in Madrid admits, which gives his events a certain exclusivity. Ochoa structures his proposal according to the season and always with the person brings his own drink or, if he prefers, he lets himself be guided by the advice of the chef, who is also a sake and wine enthusiast. When asked if her next step is to set up a restaurant, she says no. “I really enjoy my two jobs, that of art director and chef, and for the moment I don’t want to position myself in just one box”.
Other clandestine experiences
Heba Kharouf‘s path was different. From the clandestine dinners she organized in her house for small groups of strangers, she made her way to materialize her dream in Farah (La Latina, Madrid), an Arabic restaurant that has become one of the most talked-about openings in recent months. Clandestine is the word that Biga has also chosen to call the dinners they organize around this favorite ingredient present in many Italian masses. They define their proposal as a “cult of pizza” and express it in a menu of eight courses (always secret), a dessert and a drink, which they serve only for eight diners.
They have an open winery philosophy, where attendees can bring their own drink. Beyond the big capitals, Secret&Co organizes in Salamanca meetings where everything is a mystery. Until the last moment, participants know neither the place nor the menu. With a chef in charge of the culinary proposal, each event has a specific theme that changes according to the season.
Everything points to the fact that the offer of this type of experience, which combines secrecy and interest in the unknown, will continue to grow.