sprink

In René Redzepi's book 'Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine' - a study of the thought, processes and recipes behind the feted restaurant - there's a line that I keep coming back to.

Olafur Eliasson, in his essay at the start of the book, talks about a shared meal between a group of people who all eat the same dish and describes the different experience each person can have of the same food, saying "[it is] an event that prioritises individual perception within a space that is very much collective - the meal, the act of eating together."

It made me think about the meals I have with friends, often sharing the same dishes, forks reaching across the table to taste a new favourite down the other end, passing plates between us and asking for extra spoons.

These shots were all taken during recent meals. There was broad bean bruschetta at Spuntino on my birthday; paté on toast with cornichons at the St John Hotel after glasses of peachy/creamy Vouvray; olives and mussels at 32 Great Queen Street on one of the last dine outside evenings of the autumn, and madeleines and eccles cake after a meal that included purple sprouting and duck ham, but sadly no pig's tails, at St John Bread and Wine. I wonder what the others remember as their favourites, how they tasted to everyone else.