Café Abyss
17 - 21 July 2019
Walthamstow
Past event
The Domestic Godless opened their anarchic travelling kitchen in Walthamstow, providing food and drink samples at the edge of credulity.
Ever tuned-in to topical issues, The Domestic Godless added their own special contribution to Walthamstow’s colourful gastronomic landscape for Waltham Forest London Borough of Culture 2019, fully prepared for the possibility of an imminent cataclysm.
They have been applying their collective angst-ridden pataphysical minds to questions such as: What happens when the supermarket shelves are empty of food and your only larder is the local swamp? Or how can a little selective breeding turn an invasive pest into a gastronomic delicacy?
With the assistance of local wetland and forest expertise, The Domestic Godless spent a few weeks scouring the canals, reservoirs, hedgerows and bins of the borough, to expand on their anarchic repertoire of food, drink and recipes, taking foraging in the local environment way out of its comfort zone. They even went the extra inch to introduce a few species of their own, from both their travels and their native County Cork, to stock up the local ecosystem.
The café was be open free to the public during the week with two evening events highlighting Domestic Godless' gastronomic research and experimentation:
Cooking in a Cataclysm
Genius and resourcefulnes in a precarious age.
Pond Life
An introduction to few new species
Café Abyss was part of Waltham Forest Tours, a travel agency with a difference. Visit the Waltham Forest Tours section for more highlights.
Event categories:
How to get there
Venue: Walthamstow, E17
By train: Walthamstow Central and Blackhorse Road (Victoria Line and London Overground)
By bus: 20, 34, 48, 69, 97, 212, 215, 230, 257, 275, 357, 675, W12, W15, W19, N26, N38, N73
Who's Involved
Culture Ireland
Domestic Godless is funded by Culture Ireland. Culture Ireland promote Irish arts worldwide. It creates and supports opportunities for Irish artists and companies to present and promote their work at strategic international festivals and venues. It develops platforms to present outstanding Irish work to international audiences, through showcases at key global arts events, including the Edinburgh Festivals and the Venice Biennales.
Domestic Godless
The Domestic Godless have been a thorn in the foot of Irish gastronomy for over fifteen years, with an irreverent disregard for current fashions and culinary trends. They have introduced to the world such delights as Sea Urchin Pot Noodle, Foot & Mouth Terrine, Carpaccio of Giant African Land Snail and Victorian high tea wrought from all manner of fertilizer, often in the setting of anarchic installations. The Domestic Godless were founded by artists Stephen Brandes and Mick O’Shea and Irene Murphy under the Cork Artist’s Collective banner at the exhibition Artists/Groups at The Project Arts Centre, Dublin in 2003.
