Introduction

Feast: Spaces for Eating marks the final edition in a series of online publications exploring the larger framework of Setting the Table. The edition investigates the architecture, environments and landscapes in which food is prepared, purchased, shared and consumed. Exploring the spaces, designed or designated for the consumption of food, the contributions bring together both historical and contemporary perspectives on the theme. Franny Louiver’s article explores the role of servants spaces for eating within British middle class homes in the first half of the 20^th Century whereas Caitriona Devery discusses contemporary restaurant trends.  

The contributions further explore the ways that spaces for eating inform and reflect varied rituals of eating and associated activities — from dining communally to dining intimately or alone. Whether it is the domestic space of the kitchen table, explored by the design proposals of Helen Darnell or the public site of the café or bar, documented in Matt Rowe’s photography series “Portraits of Regeneration” or a make shift kitchen in temporary accommodation referenced in the Amsterdam based project ‘The Syrian Chefs’.  The environments we eat in are inherently more than just ‘spaces for food’ and this is demonstrated in contributions from Antonia Low and Elisabeth Molin who explore the integration of food within the workplace in their documentation of artist’s studios at ISCP in New York, and Laura Cuch’s piece that documents the kitchens, halls and social functions of spaces of worship in South East London.  

Pursuing places of consumption as expressions of cultural value, tradition, and changing fashions the edition gathers together a range of reflections, critical commentaries and modes of practice that explore our ongoing construction of ‘Spaces for Eating’ and our changing relationships to their differing forms.