Pop-up Underground

Tofu Scramble with dutch oven roasted potatoes - the potatoes are that odd colour because they have a lot of blue colour in them naturally.

I did a whacky and slightly scary thing today. I announced on twitter that I would be doing a pop-up restaurant event in the autumn. I've no idea what made me do it, but it's said now, so that's what must be happening.

What's a pop-up underground restaurant? It's pop-up because it's available for a very short time. Pop-ups typically appear in unused spaces or non-food locations and after one or two nights, the show is over and they're on their way. Underground restaurants serve meals open to the public but hosted in private homes. It's on the edge of legality and most underground venues release their location on a need to know basis. Successful underground restaurants may have regular calendar dates scheduled for meals.

There is either a charge per head or donations are taken for the cost of food and preparation. Alcohol can't be sold, that really is illegal, but patrons are allowed to bring their own. The menu is fixed, sometimes themed and served supper style with all guests receiving each course at about the same time. Sometimes tables are shared as space is usually very limited in a domestic setting.

Have a look at MsMarmite's blog - she was certainly the first underground restaurateur I came across and is a great read. But of course, I've never eaten there because the food isn't vegan. It's too much to expect small concerns, often one person bands, to make extraordinary efforts to feed vegans if their usual metier is more mainstream. Which is where I come in...

I'm hoping to do at least one event in the UK this autumn, more if venues can be found so that the vegan supperclub joy can be spread around the country a bit. This really is a project that's just hours old so nothing is fixed at all yet, but it's going to happen.

Watch this space.