SIN EATERS

 

SIN EATERS

Taking its inspiration from the medieval medical, magical and culinary manuscripts of the 12th-century German superstar Hildegard von Bingen, this dinner will be a journey into the world of herbalism, early superstition and natural healing.

Artist and chef Alice Héron together with director Martin Butler will take you along the deathly sins, from anger, to gluttony, to lust and pride, and offer an immersive experience based on these emotions with food, storytelling and music. 

Come eat your sins away.


Sin Eating

The eating of another persons sins is a Welsh borderland tradition. By consuming a ritual meal, it was believed to take on the sins of a recently deceased person, and absolve the souls of the dead from vanity, greed, lust, jealousy, gluttony, anger, sloth and grief.  

Hildegard von Bingen

A big inspiration for 'The Sin Eaters' are the writings of visionary, abbess, composer,  herbalist, wise woman and early feminist Hildegard Von Bingen, which are amongst the most influential surviving work from early medieval history on the relationship between the natural world and the human condition. 

Writings from Hildegard's time describe an extraordinarily talented woman; a visionary, a prophet and a pioneer who wrote practical books on biology, botany, medicine, theology, astronomy, and the arts. She was a prolific letter-writer to everyone from humble penitents looking for a cure for infertility to popes, emperors and kings seeking spiritual or political advice. 

Herbalism and deadly sins

The experience will explore von Bingen's healing methods and practices to rethink the way the worlds of food, smell, art and science come together, and to discover how these can be harnessed to achieve a balanced state of mind. Expect a sensory 8-course dinner, based on 8 deadly sins, where medieval herbalism meets modern philosophy in an extraordinary gastronomic and theatrical experience.

Photo Credits:  Andrea Valdivia.
More photos here