social – The Cultural Exposé

What we’ve been up to… Flavour Expats

Laura Thornley — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 11:44:53 +0000

Taking the supperclub out of the front room and into the public domain comes the mother of all pop-up competitions. Pitting the top supperclub chefs from around London against one another, Flavour Expats brings a whirlwind tour of the culinary world to the event space upstairs at Palm 2 in Clapton.

More than 10 countries will be represented in this battle of culinary heritage. Expats from around the globe including the Phillipines, Mauritius, Australia and Italy are in the mix and ready to lock horns over who or what makes their homeland gastronomy better than the rest.

A sneak peak pf the chef’s talents last month brought us tempura squid from Japan, Kangaroo pie and basil gelato, amongst much, much more. All chefs involved have run successful supperclubs in the front rooms of their fixed abode and have now been united under this umbrella event over the next two months. Chefs are paired for each night and diners are presented with six courses from each country: so make sure you come hungry. The cooking participants are passionate chefs keen to highlight their love of their country filled with a knowledge and enthusiasm that is contagious. Choosing your favourite will be no walk in the park, but you can certainly get stuffed trying! (Words: Laura Thornley)

The next Flavour Expats event takes place on 8th March (France VS Mauritius). For more info, visit: flavourexpats.wordpress.com

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What we’ve been up to… RDC Mission Impossible at The Water Poet (July 14th)

Matilda — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:00:08 +0000

If you’ve been following TCé long enough, you’ll know that every week I get my run on in London with a brilliant collective of creatives known as Run Dem Crew. Pioneered by DJ/poet Charlie Dark, the past year has seen RDC soar with plenty of press mentions, the growth of projects like the RDC Youngers mentoring programme, Bridge the Gap – an incredible movement where the flyest international crews unite to run major races – and now Run Dem Crew West, their newish Monday night meet-up for any beginner runners keen to get involved.

Co-led by Cory Malcolm-Wharton (aka @bitbeefy on Twitter) and Ellie Wood, RDC West has inspired novices to run all sorts of races – from local comps in Peckham to cross-country 10 milers out of town (like Dorking?) – and last Saturday, they debuted RDC Mission Imposssible, their first citywide treasure hunt for “runners, walkers and joggers”.

Trafalgar Square

We started from The Water Poet in Spitalfields and the challenge was to get to 50 known landmark in 3 hours with a team of up to 4 people. Oysters weren’t allowed and all team members needed to be in the snap holding up an RDC sign while a member of the public took the photo (word of advice: never ask a pensioner to take your photo with an iPhone – it ain’t happening!)

Buckingham Palace

We were completely knackered by the end of it, having ticked off 34 out of 50 landmarks (and clocked over 13 miles, nearly the distance of a half-marathon!) – but it was such a brilliant day. We got to explore the capital, there were medals, t-shirts and goodie bags for everyone, the deserving winners won a great trophy and it was novel way to spend a Saturday with likeminded people who understand that running can be a very cool (and fun!) thing to do. Now on to the next mission!

To keep up with the Run Dem Crew, visit www.rundemcrew.com

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Something you should do…Run Dem Crew

Matilda — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:00:57 +0000

I always thought running clubs were for people with yearly subscriptions to Runner’s World – you know, “real” runners. “I own running shoes” runners. Usain-wannabe runners. So knowing I lacked both the speed and stamina of these committed pavement pounders – who, for all I knew, went to bed on an IV drip of Lucozade -you can appreciate I was reluctant to join them. That is, until, a friend talked up the virtues of Run Dem Crew, a free club aimed at cool creative people who simply like to run. Never one to turn down “free” and “cool”, I decided to give it a whirl in the hopes I could step up my running game without fear or trepidation.

I loved it.

We met at Mile End stadium and a few other newbies were in the mix meaning there was none of that “so you’re the new kids, huh?” vibe going on, and the others who’d been with RDC for some time were only happy to fill us in on how all it worked. After a quick warm-up with founder Charlie Dark, Runners are divided into different groups according to their level: Tortoises, Hares, Greyhounds, Cheetahs and Elite. I opted for Tortoises – slow and steady – and roughly 10 of us started off on a 45 minute run around Victoria Park. To be honest, running in one accord can be challenging; there’s that pressure to keep up with everyone else, but at no point did I ever feel I was out of my depth. Breathless? Yes. Uncomfortable? A little bit. Yet even when the faster groups zoomed past us, we’d be greeted with nothing less than cheers and encouragement.

The great thing about RDC is that it feels like a real community; there’s nearly an equal number of guys and girls, and post-run, one of the members handed out pieces of homemade cake, while others were talking, cracking jokes or picking up their RDC tee-shirt as a reward for being involved for at least 5 weeks. So if you’re keen to get in shape, step up your fitness, or simply want to hang out with new people, this is the crew you’ll definitely wanna roll with. (Words: Matilda Egere-Cooper)

Run Dem Crew meet up every Tuesday in East London – for more info, visit the Run Dem Crew website.

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