New Programme at Brocket Hall, UK

I delivered a new interactive culinary programme (sp, but when in Rome) at a stunning old manor just outside London. Brocket Hall is a 300 year old private event venue that is famous in recent history for acting as the backdrop for the filming of "Pride and Prejudice" (that would be the Colin Firth version ladies). It is now a very swank boutique hotel and conference center, that graciously allowed us to facilitate two separate culinary programmes over several days. Our In Vino Veritas Wine Challenge opened up the festivities, and we followed that with a new option Just Call Them Small Plates Culinary Challenge: From Tapas & Mezze to Dim Sum. Here's how I describe it:


An exercise in multi-cultural understanding, each team is assigned a table with one or two appetizer recipes specific to a general culinary, and geographic, region (for example: “Asia” or “Europe”). Their task is to complete the recipes, but first each team must align with another group to exchange one of their ingredients. The aim is to balance cultural accuracy and common sense to the recipes (ie. we don’t necessarily want to swap ricotta cheese for soy sauce) with innovation and risk taking.The objectives of the “Just Call Them Small Plates” Culinary Challenge: honing salesmanship and negotiation skills, emphasizing cultural awareness and the ability to work in a fluid environment.