Experimental Food Society: Wobblicious!

"It'll be great." "It's good to give new things a go." "Look, it's only £5 a ticket, with a free glass of wine. That means that even if it's rubbish we'll only have lost about £1."

I spent most of the walk to the Intercontinental Hotel persuading Michael that it was a good idea to go to the inaugural event of the Experimental Food Society. I saw on my Urban Junkies email and couldn’t resist such a bizarre sounding thing. Michael's German though. Risk-taking doesn't come easy.

It paid off though. Handsomely. One of those nights when you think to yourself, this city rocks. Well, wobbles. The event was a talk by (self-proclaimed) jellymongers, Bombas & Parr. I watched the Blur documentary, No Distance Left to Run, the other day and they reminded me of Damon and Graham. One the talker, the entertainer, the driving force, the front man; the other one, quiet, thoughtful, modest, clearly the genius behind the operation.

They talked for over an hour about jelly and art and architecture and things that just never would have crossed your mind in a lifetime. Like how to coat jelly with gold, and how to make funeral jelly, Henry VIII's favourite jelly (Hippocras I think) and the difference between jelly as art and jelly as foodstuff. Yes indeed. They also talked about how they set up in business (“we just thought, I know, let’s make jelly”). I love that stuff. Always makes you go away plotting your own business venture that will finally turn your passion into cash and your life into a dream (for about as long as the journey home). They attempted a less than successful demonstration but that was quickly abandoned for more stories about jelly and its place in our society.

Then (after me worrying there would be no food at the experimental food society’s inaugural event) they brought out a jelly each on massive silver trays of wobbliness. I think I had orange and lemon. Was surprisingly nice and made me and Michael think twice about leaving jelly in the realm of the kiddies.

Then, then, we were told that the big spread of food we’d been eyeing up at the back of the room was for us. It was something like a run on a bank, only we were prepared and got there almost first. Several plates (of gorgeous buffet food and a few bowls of sushi and beef and fish and rice) later we were sitting on a bench unable to move and wishing we didn’t eat all that so fast. “Buffets bring out the worst in me,” Michael declared. I had to agree, I’ve never seen him move so fast. Mind you I think most other people there were the same. Manners vanished and the human hunter instinct took over.

What a great surprise though, fantastic night. Some of those things pay off, some don’t, but definitely worth trying. You can’t get much better nights out in London for a fiver. Can't wait for the next one! (And, have booked to see Bombas & Parr's History of Food event with Courvoisier in Belgrave Square in July, v exciting.)

PS On the way there I spotted an elephant spotter. Firstly, what is that about? And secondly, am I the only one who just doesn't like those elephants? And I love elephants. There's just something spooky about those ones. Those bulgy dead eyes. It's a nice idea but I just find them freaky.