For the Only One Ingredient lunch presented by Studio H in Venice, as part of Littlegig Homofaber, we served a six course water-themed menu. This lunch was prepared in collaboration with Hotel Il Palazzo Experimental and their Head Chef, Denis Begiqi.
ARRIVAL DRINKS by Experimental Cocktail Club
Alcohol-free Cocai Cola (Venezianos refer to seagulls as cocai)
COURSE 1: VENICE TAP WATER
The first course was water sourced by Studio H and the Littlegig team from 126 water fountains that provide safe drinking water for the city of Venice. In an effort to minimise the environmental impact of tourists, the team at Venice Tap Water compiled a map of water fountains to encourage visitors to access clean water from these sources instead of using plastic water bottles.
COURSE 2: PICKLED WATERBLOMMETJIE
South Africa’s indigenous waterblommetjie grows naturally in ponds and dams during winter and is foraged on a large scale. The waterblommetjies we served were sourced from @babylonstoren – we pickled and then marinated them.
COURSE 3: SEA
Fish Martini with sorghum flatbreads and bokkom oil. We took sorghum flour from South Africa and asked the hotel to use that to make their famous flatbreads. Sorghum is an ancient African grain that has been cultivated in Southern Africa for at least 2000 years, is not only drought-tolerant but also extremely versatile as an ingredient. Bokkoms are a salted, sun and wind-dried fish delicacy – the ones we served were made by the women of @weskusmandjie. (Available via @abalobi_app). We turned the bokkoms into a powder and added it to olive oil. The oil we sourced in Modena from Massimo Bottura’s condiment collection, @villamanodori.
COURSE 4: WATER SALAD
A tablescape salad with seasonal water-dense fruit and veg. Guests were encouraged to create their own water salad by foraging from the table scapes in front of them, using hardware tools to cut their fruit and veg and salt spray or salts provided to season their salad. The salad consisted only of fruit and veg with a very high water content, sourced from Rialto Market in Venice. We provided three types of salt. Sea lettuce salt, harvested and made by Weskusmandjie (@abalobi_app), mushroom salt from @babylonstoren, containing oyster, cloud ear, portobello and shiitake mushrooms and lastly, Baleni salt, a very special salt sourced from the hot mineral spring which was declared a Natural Heritage Site in 1999. The current Baleni Salt Project workers harvest in winter according to ancient ritualised practices and only women can work at the salt spring, all their movements governed by a secret symbolic language.
COURSE 5: MINDFUL EATING
Spaghetti pastificio felicetti with vongole clams and samphire
This course was all about mindful eating and slowing down to appreciate the food that we eat. We served Chef Denis’ vongole with clams and samphire (a coastal succulent that grows on dunes). The deliberately heavy and awkward cutlery for this course was designed for us by Cape Town artist, @githancoopoo, with the intention to slow you down and to amplify your mindful eating experience. Experts recommend that you wait one minute between each bite of food – so we encourage you to put down the cutlery in between bites, slow down and enjoy every mouthful of Chef Denis’ dish.
COURSE 6: CAMEL MILKSHAKES WITH KOFFIEKOEKIES
We ended the lunch with a dish that the guests co-created with us: a camel milk coffee milkshake served with Babylonstoren’s koffiekoekies. The secret ingredient was a choice between something that grew in an abundance of water or in a desert. The winner? Desert, meaning that we flavoured the milkshake with Kalahari Truffle Aperitif, an extremely rare truffle that grows in the expansive deserts of Southern Africa and is only available for harvest 5-weeks a year. (Find the recipe on our website - link in bio.)
TAKEHOME SNACKS: OSTRICH EGG MARSHMALLOWS
Inspired by Hannerie’s great grand parents who were ostrich farmers, we prepared two flavours of ostrich marshmallows. The marshmallows were designed to enjoy before and after that evening’s Masked Ball. The superfood-rich baobab marshmallow was for added energy, whilst the restorative qualities of the spekboom mallow would make for a welcome snack in the morning.
THANK YOU:
Littlegig:
Georgia Black
Seth Shezi
Bielle Bellingham
Marina Gemeliaris
Homo Faber:
Hanneli Rupert
Il Palazzo Experimental:
Chef Denis Begiqi
Guillaume Pinaut
Pietro Lorefice
Venice Tap Water
Marco Capovilla
Hoick (hoick):
Claire Johnson
Adam Strong
Tiffany Schouw
Chefs:
Louise Wessels
Bianca Strydom
Collaborators:
Weskusmandjie
Babylonstoren
For the Only One Ingredient lunch presented by Studio H in Venice, as part of Littlegig Homofaber, we served a six course water-themed menu. This lunch was prepared in collaboration with Hotel Il Palazzo Experimental and their Head Chef, Denis Begiqi.
ARRIVAL DRINKS by Experimental Cocktail Club
Alcohol-free Cocai Cola (Venezianos refer to seagulls as cocai)
COURSE 1: VENICE TAP WATER
The first course was water sourced by Studio H and the Littlegig team from 126 water fountains that provide safe drinking water for the city of Venice. In an effort to minimise the environmental impact of tourists, the team at Venice Tap Water compiled a map of water fountains to encourage visitors to access clean water from these sources instead of using plastic water bottles.
COURSE 2: PICKLED WATERBLOMMETJIE
South Africa’s indigenous waterblommetjie grows naturally in ponds and dams during winter and is foraged on a large scale. The waterblommetjies we served were sourced from @babylonstoren – we pickled and then marinated them.
COURSE 3: SEA
Fish Martini with sorghum flatbreads and bokkom oil. We took sorghum flour from South Africa and asked the hotel to use that to make their famous flatbreads. Sorghum is an ancient African grain that has been cultivated in Southern Africa for at least 2000 years, is not only drought-tolerant but also extremely versatile as an ingredient. Bokkoms are a salted, sun and wind-dried fish delicacy – the ones we served were made by the women of @weskusmandjie. (Available via @abalobi_app). We turned the bokkoms into a powder and added it to olive oil. The oil we sourced in Modena from Massimo Bottura’s condiment collection, @villamanodori.
COURSE 4: WATER SALAD
A tablescape salad with seasonal water-dense fruit and veg. Guests were encouraged to create their own water salad by foraging from the table scapes in front of them, using hardware tools to cut their fruit and veg and salt spray or salts provided to season their salad. The salad consisted only of fruit and veg with a very high water content, sourced from Rialto Market in Venice. We provided three types of salt. Sea lettuce salt, harvested and made by Weskusmandjie (@abalobi_app), mushroom salt from @babylonstoren, containing oyster, cloud ear, portobello and shiitake mushrooms and lastly, Baleni salt, a very special salt sourced from the hot mineral spring which was declared a Natural Heritage Site in 1999. The current Baleni Salt Project workers harvest in winter according to ancient ritualised practices and only women can work at the salt spring, all their movements governed by a secret symbolic language.
COURSE 5: MINDFUL EATING
Spaghetti pastificio felicetti with vongole clams and samphire
This course was all about mindful eating and slowing down to appreciate the food that we eat. We served Chef Denis’ vongole with clams and samphire (a coastal succulent that grows on dunes). The deliberately heavy and awkward cutlery for this course was designed for us by Cape Town artist, @githancoopoo, with the intention to slow you down and to amplify your mindful eating experience. Experts recommend that you wait one minute between each bite of food – so we encourage you to put down the cutlery in between bites, slow down and enjoy every mouthful of Chef Denis’ dish.
COURSE 6: CAMEL MILKSHAKES WITH KOFFIEKOEKIES
We ended the lunch with a dish that the guests co-created with us: a camel milk coffee milkshake served with Babylonstoren’s koffiekoekies. The secret ingredient was a choice between something that grew in an abundance of water or in a desert. The winner? Desert, meaning that we flavoured the milkshake with Kalahari Truffle Aperitif, an extremely rare truffle that grows in the expansive deserts of Southern Africa and is only available for harvest 5-weeks a year. (Find the recipe on our website - link in bio.)
TAKEHOME SNACKS: OSTRICH EGG MARSHMALLOWS
Inspired by Hannerie’s great grand parents who were ostrich farmers, we prepared two flavours of ostrich marshmallows. The marshmallows were designed to enjoy before and after that evening’s Masked Ball. The superfood-rich baobab marshmallow was for added energy, whilst the restorative qualities of the spekboom mallow would make for a welcome snack in the morning.
THANK YOU:
Littlegig:
Georgia Black
Seth Shezi
Bielle Bellingham
Marina Gemeliaris
Homo Faber:
Hanneli Rupert
Il Palazzo Experimental:
Chef Denis Begiqi
Guillaume Pinaut
Pietro Lorefice
Venice Tap Water
Marco Capovilla
Hoick (hoick):
Claire Johnson
Adam Strong
Tiffany Schouw
Chefs:
Louise Wessels
Bianca Strydom
Collaborators:
Weskusmandjie
Babylonstoren
For the Only One Ingredient lunch presented by Studio H in Venice, as part of Littlegig Homofaber, we served a six course water-themed menu. This lunch was prepared in collaboration with Hotel Il Palazzo Experimental and their Head Chef, Denis Begiqi.
ARRIVAL DRINKS by Experimental Cocktail Club
Alcohol-free Cocai Cola (Venezianos refer to seagulls as cocai)
COURSE 1: VENICE TAP WATER
The first course was water sourced by Studio H and the Littlegig team from 126 water fountains that provide safe drinking water for the city of Venice. In an effort to minimise the environmental impact of tourists, the team at Venice Tap Water compiled a map of water fountains to encourage visitors to access clean water from these sources instead of using plastic water bottles.
COURSE 2: PICKLED WATERBLOMMETJIE
South Africa’s indigenous waterblommetjie grows naturally in ponds and dams during winter and is foraged on a large scale. The waterblommetjies we served were sourced from @babylonstoren – we pickled and then marinated them.
COURSE 3: SEA
Fish Martini with sorghum flatbreads and bokkom oil. We took sorghum flour from South Africa and asked the hotel to use that to make their famous flatbreads. Sorghum is an ancient African grain that has been cultivated in Southern Africa for at least 2000 years, is not only drought-tolerant but also extremely versatile as an ingredient. Bokkoms are a salted, sun and wind-dried fish delicacy – the ones we served were made by the women of @weskusmandjie. (Available via @abalobi_app). We turned the bokkoms into a powder and added it to olive oil. The oil we sourced in Modena from Massimo Bottura’s condiment collection, @villamanodori.
COURSE 4: WATER SALAD
A tablescape salad with seasonal water-dense fruit and veg. Guests were encouraged to create their own water salad by foraging from the table scapes in front of them, using hardware tools to cut their fruit and veg and salt spray or salts provided to season their salad. The salad consisted only of fruit and veg with a very high water content, sourced from Rialto Market in Venice. We provided three types of salt. Sea lettuce salt, harvested and made by Weskusmandjie (@abalobi_app), mushroom salt from @babylonstoren, containing oyster, cloud ear, portobello and shiitake mushrooms and lastly, Baleni salt, a very special salt sourced from the hot mineral spring which was declared a Natural Heritage Site in 1999. The current Baleni Salt Project workers harvest in winter according to ancient ritualised practices and only women can work at the salt spring, all their movements governed by a secret symbolic language.
COURSE 5: MINDFUL EATING
Spaghetti pastificio felicetti with vongole clams and samphire
This course was all about mindful eating and slowing down to appreciate the food that we eat. We served Chef Denis’ vongole with clams and samphire (a coastal succulent that grows on dunes). The deliberately heavy and awkward cutlery for this course was designed for us by Cape Town artist, @githancoopoo, with the intention to slow you down and to amplify your mindful eating experience. Experts recommend that you wait one minute between each bite of food – so we encourage you to put down the cutlery in between bites, slow down and enjoy every mouthful of Chef Denis’ dish.
COURSE 6: CAMEL MILKSHAKES WITH KOFFIEKOEKIES
We ended the lunch with a dish that the guests co-created with us: a camel milk coffee milkshake served with Babylonstoren’s koffiekoekies. The secret ingredient was a choice between something that grew in an abundance of water or in a desert. The winner? Desert, meaning that we flavoured the milkshake with Kalahari Truffle Aperitif, an extremely rare truffle that grows in the expansive deserts of Southern Africa and is only available for harvest 5-weeks a year. (Find the recipe on our website - link in bio.)
TAKEHOME SNACKS: OSTRICH EGG MARSHMALLOWS
Inspired by Hannerie’s great grand parents who were ostrich farmers, we prepared two flavours of ostrich marshmallows. The marshmallows were designed to enjoy before and after that evening’s Masked Ball. The superfood-rich baobab marshmallow was for added energy, whilst the restorative qualities of the spekboom mallow would make for a welcome snack in the morning.
THANK YOU:
Littlegig:
Georgia Black
Seth Shezi
Bielle Bellingham
Marina Gemeliaris
Homo Faber:
Hanneli Rupert
Il Palazzo Experimental:
Chef Denis Begiqi
Guillaume Pinaut
Pietro Lorefice
Venice Tap Water
Marco Capovilla
Hoick (hoick):
Claire Johnson
Adam Strong
Tiffany Schouw
Chefs:
Louise Wessels
Bianca Strydom
Collaborators:
Weskusmandjie
Babylonstoren
