15 November 2014
ARTDEGO 2014
Every picture tells a story. Above 'The Big Breakfast' - a collaboration between chef Ian Harrison of CLooney and Stafford Allpress an artist from Geraldine who makes miniature works with everyday objects. It was one of five courses of this year's ARTDEGO, organised by the very talented Courteney Peters of Gather and Hunt and a huge team of equally innovative and talented friends.
It was the third ARTDEGO, and possibly the best, and most challenging to date. Set in the stunning Auckland Art Gallery, an evening of art, food, drinks and amazing experiences unfolded.
First the clever, clever canapés in the foyer by Liam Fox were paired with Rogue Society gin cocktails by Laura Lopez (loved the Shimmering Cloud with Asian aromatics and grapefruit bitters.) Then we were seated upstairs, performance artist Ryan Ballinger ran 10,000 metres on a treadmill while we were sustained with plastic tubes of oats, liver, green pea, apple & honey and a dry sherry created by Joao Martins. This is not art as I knew it - pretty challenging in every respect of the word!
The pic above was our next course, followed by the very talented Kazuya Yamauchi's scallop with wakame, cocoa, mushroom and miso. He had worked with Joseph Michael who uses time lapse landscape photography and the dish evoked the feeling of soil, seafood and nature.
You can always rely on the clever Mikey Newlands of Bracu, and his delicious pork jowl dish was perfectly in sync with Claire Cowan's energetic flamenco dance. She composed the piece and performed on her cello as well.
To end this extraordinary exhibition and feast, Megan May of Little Bird Unbakery presented a raw dessert of cacao, matcha, enoki and raspberry. she had collaborated with Yoshiko and Shintaro Nakahara who paint highly detailed colourful works on the theme of hikari or light. The kombucha with lemon verbena, lychee and lemongrass was the perfect match to end the night.
I have attended every ArtDego and they just get better every year. The brilliance of the artists and chefs, the seamless service by the crew who assist and the sheer energy that goes into staging the event, not to mention all the fab sponsors makes it the highlight of the culinary year. I would not miss it for the world.