Learning to eat, drink and be merry: geek style
Geeky marshmallows, historical cocktails, recipe book sociology and more. Where food meets geek we can turn out some wonderful, ephemeral things, works of art which exist only on the tongue and last for just the few moments between bite and swallow. The track will also be thinking about what eating and drinking means for culture and society in fact and fiction. We eat and drink every day, ritualising it into courses and ceremonies, building some of our best childhood memories around kitchens and tables, but we rarely stop and think about what it means. Come and think about how we eat and drink with us. Also, come and help us eat 8kg of cheese.
All in room 32, except cheese.
All Weekend
The Nine Worlds Cookbook: add your recipe to the pinboard
The food track will be collecting fantasy recipes all weekend for the Nine Worlds Cookbook 2015. Your fantasy recipes could be recreations of food from fiction like butterbeer, lembas bread, blue string pudding or soylent green (with faux people, please); or they can be your wildest food fantasies: giant jaffa cakes, cream eggs Benedict, exploding puddings, six legged roast goose. Copies of last year's cookbook will be available for your enjoyment and inspiration.
Come post your recipes on the giant pinboard in the food track room and discover what others have posted. At the end of the weekend, the best recipes will be collated into a free digital cookbook which will be sent to every contributor (whether they made the final cut or not). If you're feeling unsure of your writing skills, why not come to our Writing the Nine Worlds Cookbook session on Friday for some help and support getting that contribution in!
Thursday
Cheese & Cheese: eat cheese and read your guilty pleasures - 7.00pm - 9.00pm, Connaught A & B
Nine Worlds is a safe place to express your love for anything. But sometimes we still find it hard to admit to our love for that pulp sci-fi novel, steamy bodice-ripper, or angst-ridden vampire romp. You hide them at the back of the shelves and tell people that you "enjoyed them as teenagers". We say: no more! Come and eat our wide selection of delicious cheese and read us some of your favourite written cheese at our open mic. Vegetarian and goat's milk cheeses, and gluten-free crackers, will be available. (Note: adult content.)
Reading and tasting
Friday
The Art of Marshmallowry: a seminar on marshmallows with free tasting - 1.30pm - 2.45pm
Join us for a chat on the sweet, fluffy delight of everything marshmallowy. The Robin Collective will talk about the history of marshmallowry, our own adventures in Medicinal Marshmallows, how to make your own at home, and finish with a tasting featuring a variety of flavours, including special GeekFest mallows infused with the sweat of cult television characters. Geek Mallows will also be available to purchase in Commonweath East from 3pm, £3 per bag.
Talk and tasting
Writing the Nine Worlds Cookbook: get help writing your own fantasy recipe - 3.15pm - 4.30pm
Last year you helped us make a cookbook filled with Cthulhu burritos, giant eggs, infused gins and a just-really-damn-good chocolate tart. Come and write your own recipe to contribute to this year's book, with the help of track head and author Ruth Ball. Every contributor gets a printed copy of last year's book and a digital copy of this year's once we finish it!
Workshop
Saturday
No Whey! A Vegan Coffee Morning: vegans and veggies unite over caffeine - 9.00am - 9.45am
Start your Saturday with fellow Vegans and Vegetarians, enjoying high quality coffee and vegan muffins, while you chat about fun sessions past and upcoming. Share fanships and fan tips over Veg*n locations - Did you know London has a vegan hair salon? This is super informal, just a lovely way to start Saturday.
Social, with Chloe
Cookbooks of the 1950s and 60s: the sociological lessons which can be learned - 3.15pm - 4.30pm
Helen Zaltzman gives her comedy talk on the sociological lessons of 50s and 60s cookbooks, with extracts from her collection.
Sunday
Historical Cocktails and Conversation: learn about the history of illicit spirits over a drink - 5.00pm - 8.00pm
Wind down from the weekend with a drink as Ruth Ball talks informally about her forthcoming book Rebellious Spirits: The Illicit History of Booze in Britain and serves up samples of a few authentic historical drink recipes from the book. Drop in and out of the session as you please. Strictly 18+.
