Eat the world at Global Feast: An Olympic dining experience

With the idea of the Olympic Games being to bring people from all over the globe together, it seems very fitting that amongst all the competitions and merriment of the Games there is to be an event exalting culinary delights from all over the world: Global Feast.

Organised by Latitudinal Cuisine, curated and co-hosted by Kerstin Rodgers (aka MsMarmitelover) of The Underground Restaurant, Global Feast, held at Stratford’s Old Town Hall, is a fusion of different world cuisines where an array of Britain’s top restaurant and supper-club chefs will be cooking their signature dishes from around the world for up to 80 guests a night. 

Keeping with the global theme, one of the quirky highlights of this event is the dining area known as Worldscape, design by Atmos, the art and architecture studio founded by Alex Haw.  Each night, guests sit round a giant sculptural model of the world – 15-metres long, 6-metres wide and over 2-metres tall, and dine of its coastlines with a bespoke set of plates illustrating their location in the world.

Starting with West Africa on Wednesday 25^th July, Global Feast will be going around the world in 20 days, ending with a Brazilian feast on Saturday 13^th August to celebrate the Olympics’ next host city, Rio de Janeiro, in 2016.  Friday 27^th July will see a British theme for the Olympic opening ceremony, with chefs from England, Scotland and Wales. 

Having attended the preview night of the 20-night banquet, it is safe to say that any guests attending this food fest will be in very safe hands.  On arrival there is a very welcoming array of complimentary cocktails, courtesy of Courvoisier who will be supplying the welcome cocktail at each event.  And where there are cocktails, mouth-watering canapés are not very far behind, with tantalizing treats crafted for the geography of the evening.

The flow of courses is punctuated by entertainment, which on the preview night was singer-songwriter Radhika, allowing guests to mingle and travel to a new seat at Worldscape. 

Highlights from the preview night were Singapore with sticky rice cakes and preserved turnip; East Africa with Queen scallops with samphire, chilli and coriander on coconut rice; Sweden serving Kalix Bleek roe with fennel flower, sour cream and red onion. England was represented by Marmite on toast made by the host with homemade sourdough.

The golden dish of the evening for us came from the other side of the globe, New Zealand, with owner of The Modern Pantry Anna Hansen’s crispy, smoked mussel fish fingers with a seaweed tartare sauce.

Mirroring the rich diversity of London, and capturing its extensive home-restaurants food scene, Global Feast is set to be a hit for all palates. 

 Angela Yussuff

Global Feast runs from Wednesday 25^th July until Sunday 13^th August at the Stratford Old Town Hall, 29 The Broadway, Stratford, London E15 4BQ. Tickets cost £55 per person (£65 at the weekends). To see menus and purchase tickets, visit here.