A MEAL OVER 6 KENTISH LANDSCAPES
sit-down dinner for Delfina Foundation, London

on the hills and and in the woodland, nettles and mushrooms underfoot, a harvest of nuts and honey.

(Wild mushroom & chestnut baked polenta, nettle crisps & honey butter, served with cobnut mead)

across chalk grasslands, wild herbs grow and birds’ eggs nestle

(a selection of birds’ eggs topped with herbs and herb mustard dressing)

through allotments, gardens, smallholdings, six types of gourd, six types of wheat

(crown prince squash puree and harissa, roast harlequin squash in red kuri squash pastry made with Eckley Farm’s mixed wheat flour (Crusoe, Edgar, Solstice, Gallant, Skyfall and Trinity), topped with watermelon and cucumber pickle, spiced pumpkin seeds)

down to the harbour: the mouth and the arm, the aroma of chips and vinegar

(a cup of Salty Potato tea with sour pickled rock samphire and tapioca pearls)

floating over chalk reefs cracks in the chalk sea bed house blue mussels and toothwrack

(squid ink crackers to dip in mussel cream and an edible chalk powder served with seaweed)

and descending into Folkestone Pomerania. A wealth of sea sponges: ’chocolate finger’ (Raspailia ramosa), ‘shredded carrot’ (Amphilectus fucorum), ‘mermaid’s glove’ (Haliclona oculata)) and the home of the lost cucuzza

(a dessert of sponge puddings: Chocolate Finger sponge Shredded Carrot sponge and Mermaid’s Glove Ginger sponge with candied pumpkin and whipped vegan cream)