The Gelinaz! Shuffle returns on 3 December with global menu swaps featuring the world’s top restaurants

Culinary group Gelinaz! will bring back its wildly popular event Gelinaz! Shuffle for one night on the 3^rd of December. The international collective of world-class chefs will return to adopt each other’s roles for a haute cuisine swap like no other. Once again, the collaboration is global, and this third year is more ambitious than ever.

Curated by Andrea Petrini, Patricia Meunier & Matt Gallet, this year’s Shuffle is the latest in a series of such projects devised by the maverick team. Founded in 2015 by Petrini, the collective’s name is a mixture of the names of iconic chef Fulvio Pierangelini and the band Gorillaz. The team describes itself as “in essence, food curators of a culinary hub that brings together artists, musicians, scientists and thinkers into improvisational collaborations.” Gelinaz! prides itself on its subversive, playful attitude to fine dining. Its quirky website advises: “Gelinaz! performs food, it doesn’t just cook you dinner!” 

Following the success of the inaugural Shuffle in 2015 – an unprecedented feat where 37 chefs from across the globe swap restaurants, homes and personal lives for four days – Gelinaz! are ramping up the scale while aiming for an eco-friendlier outlook. The number of participants has risen this year from 40 in 2016 to 148 (including eight chefs in London), and the event will involve over 2000 recipes. But this year’s challenge, DomoSophism, is all about staying put. In a world of environmental consciousness, Gelinaz! Shuffle 2019 stays at home. 

This year only the recipes travel. Picked at random by ballot, each restaurant will be partnered with another anonymous participating restaurant, sharing recipes across the globe. In true Gelinaz! spirit, no one (not chefs, front of house staff, or guests) will know the name of their partnered restaurant or chef until dinner is served, when Gelinaz! will inform them with a grand reveal.

Gelinaz! HQ has supplied each restaurant with its anonymously matched establishment’s list of ingredients and recipes. From these recipes, the restaurants will create their own interpretation of their mysterious partner restaurant. The excitement comes from the anonymity of the recipes, as no one will know whose food they are creating. Each chef will culturally remix their designated recipes to create totally remodelled dishes. This year’s event is a culinary experimental playground, resulting in a unique set of dinners that will never be repeated again.

Petrini said about this year’s Shuffle: “The Shuffle is growing as we absorb a new generation of the world’s most extraordinary culinary talent into the Gelinaz! collective. This year we are pushing the boundaries of creative possibilities even further, as each set of bespoke recipes are remastered to provide an element of surprise for chefs and diners alike. Gelinaz! dining becomes an experience more than just eating.”

By keeping chefs within the comfort of their native kitchens and cultures and presenting them with new sets of recipes to research and rethink, this year’s Shuffle is set to spawn an unprecedented spectrum of creations devised from the most legendary names within our gastronomic world. The Gelinaz! Shuffle: DomoSophism continues the celebration at the very core of the hospitality industry. It’s about sharing knowledge, exposure to new ingredients and learning new practices – creativity without fear.

The editorial unit

The Grand Gelinaz! Shuffle: DomoSophism will take place on Tuesday 3^rd December 2019 at participating restaurants across the globe. For a full list of the participating chefs and restaurants, or to book tickets, visit Gelinaz!’s website here.