Dormancy

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Collaborating with photographer Hannah Morgan, I have created a series of dishes inspired by walks that we went on together, that will be paired with the photos she takes of the scenes we come across. 

 

The first image in the series is inspired by a stagnant pool at Devil’s Dyke in Sussex. Standing in the middle of the pool was a rotten willow which served as a garden for multiple types of fungi and lichens, a sign of new hope growing from decay. Three fava bean umami crackers stand in a mushroom and walnut tapenade, topped with hazelnut tamari soil, mixed seed butter and sprouts, the dish is served with a foraged mushroom broth.

 

The deep umami flavours of the dish echo the rot of the trees and leaves into humus. I use mushrooms and nuts in my reinterpretation of the taste of the forest scene, creating a variety of components with them. The piece is an ode to dormant life, waiting to spring into action.

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The second image in the series takes inspiration from a hillside that we climbed. As we stood by a windbeaten shrub admiring the landscape, the clouds parted and flooded the plateau and the planes below with light. Using parsnip and celeriac as the flavours of the field I have created contours pinned by rosemary sprigs. The dish is then served with alfalfa sprouts, hawthorn and crabapple leather, apple compote and rosehip ketchup. Using ingredients I had foraged I recreated the feeling of the sunshine on the winter landscape.