{"id":265041,"date":"2024-10-08T09:16:07","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T07:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tapasmagazine.es\/el-resurgir-de-los-supper-clubs\/"},"modified":"2024-10-08T09:54:26","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T07:54:26","slug":"the-resurgence-of-supper-clubs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tapasmagazine.es\/en\/the-resurgence-of-supper-clubs\/","title":{"rendered":"The resurgence of supper clubs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to read the Spanish version.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were born in the United States<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fondo Supper Club: art and gastronomy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fondo Supper Club<\/a><\/strong> 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: \u201cto translate concepts into edible situations\u201d. Bel\u00e9n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Its path began two years ago with a dinner linked to the work of artist Esther Merinero<\/strong>. For Bel\u00e9n, one of the members, \u201cit was like a kind of self-commissioned project\u201d. From there they went on to contact young galleries that represent artists of their generation, such as Pradiauto or El Chico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dinners, which are held in these spaces every two months, do not exceed 30 diners and cost around 75 \u20ac 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.<\/p>\n\n\n

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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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Sunday Supper Club: fun and connection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A little over a year ago Georgina Hotson<\/strong>, 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. \u201cWe 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,\u201d says Hotson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt 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,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From home cooking to Spanish izakaya<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Laura Ochoa<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. \u201cI 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,\u201d says Ochoa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A post shared by Laura Ochoa (@lauraochoa.studio)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>