A lunch with MFK
Sunday 20 August 2023, 1-3pm
GULP and Mangia! Mangia! are delighted to announce a new fusion of food and art, as we celebrate the work of one of the greatest food writers of the 20th Century, MFK Fisher by serving you a lunch sewn through with a story.
Born in 1908, Fisher loved to eat, to cook and to write. WH Auden thought her to be the best American prose writer of her generation, and her work continues to be hugely influential and endlessly readable Her writing is part memoir, part essay, part recipe book, and follows her almost unbelievable life through pre-war France, Switzerland, Italy, and post war North and central America: eating, drinking and cooking all the way.
This lunch replicates a meal she served for friends and family in her rural Swiss home, Le Pâquis, just before the outbreak of World War 2. Based on entirely seasonal and simple ingredients, it begins in the garden with tea, bread and honey, proceeding over four more boozy courses that will be punctuated by the telling of the story of how the original meal unfolded and unravelled.
Only as the Armagnac is poured at the end of the afternoon will you find out how that meal concluded.
The lunch will take place at GULP’s intimate dining room, in the heart of Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter.
£65 ticket includes all food and drinks pairings but there will be the option to buy additional drinks if you wish. Tickets can be booked here.
MENU
Tea, bread and honey
Sherry
Tomato, chicken and wine broth
Cheese Tarts; white wine
Roast pigeon with herbs and bread; red wine
Iced fruit, Gaufrettes and Tokay
Coffee and Armagnac
About GULP
Founded by Artist Kaye Winwood, GULP is an artistic dining room nestled in a stunning Grade II listed building in the heart of Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. GULP is a meeting, learning and eating space for curious appetites with a desire for the extraordinary. GULP provides a beautiful setting for corporate away days and meetings; private celebrations; filming and photoshoots.
You can find out more about GULP here, and about Kaye’s practice here
Matt writes about, grows, teaches and cooks about British and Italian food. Mangia! Mangia! (Eat! Eat!) was born out of Matt’s friend Giovanna who begins every meal shouting to whoever is at her table in Palermo. It started when Italian friends in the UK, Rome and Sicily claimed that you could never cook proper Italian food in the UK, because we can’t grow the fruit and veg, and Matt decided to prove them wrong and now produces bitter greens, artichokes, quinces, Neapolitan tomatoes, aubergines, and on and on, from his south Birmingham allotment, before turning them into traditional Italian meals and preserves.
Matt’s writing has received praise from Nigella Lawson, Rachel Roddy and Diana Henry.
More information can be found at www.mangiamangiauk.com or on IG as @mangiamangiauk