A unique food festival that pairs chefs and visual artists

The Gathering offers a sensorial storytelling experience around communities, ingredients and techniques

- Avantika Bhuyan

In the last few years, the concept of the immersive dining experience has seen many novel formats and innovations. Now, a unique festival, The Gathering, is bringing a new kind of interdisciplinarity to both the culinary and the visual arts by pairing chefs with artists. These nine pairs are creating nine exclusive pop-up restaurants, featuring five courses for 20 guests per sitting, to offer a sensorial storytelling experience. Chef Viraf Patel and Alex Davis take the guests on a journey to the future, wherein the rising sea levels have transformed ways of living on Earth.

Through 'The Last Harvest', the duo are conceptualising a world in which the way we think about and approach food has changed forever.

To be held between 21-23 February at the Travancore House, Delhi, The Gathering has been curated by Sushmita Sarmah and Prasad Ramamurthy. The event has been divided into three segments: explorers, or global expressions of regional cooking; the innovators that are pushing culinary boundaries; and the conservators preserving culinary traditions. Some of the pairings include Prateek Sadhu and Aradhana Seth, Regi Mathew and Vinu Daniel, Adwait Anantwar and Devika Narain, Amninder Sandhu and Ekarth Studio, Anumitra Ghosh Dastidar and Archana Hande, and Vanika Choudhary and Punit Jasuja.

The festival offers a sensorial storytelling experience. Often while eating a plate of food, we don't know the story behind it. Sarmah, founder of the events company C.A.B. Experiences, and co-curator Ramamurthy have tried to offer an immersive experience featuring chefs and artists to build on historical themes that go beyond just food.