A restaurant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn recently hosted a pop-up dinner in which all guests committed to a complete vow of silence during the meal. The Wall Street Journal reports that attendees at Eat's four-course, "organic locavore" dinner ate in silence for the entirety of the 90-minute meal, and "punishment for talking was having one's plate... removed and placed on a bench outside, where loudmouths could finish their meals."
Eat's "managing chef and events planner" Nicholas Nauman tells the WSJ that the dinner was inspired by meals he'd eaten at an Indian monastery: "We wanted to bring attention to the physical and visceral properties of eating." Attendees reported pantomiming at the table and speaking aloud to themselves in the bathroom as a "pep talk." Said one: "At first it felt like being 50 and married. But then it became good, the good kind of quiet." (Better silent than way too loud, amirite?) Nauman hopes to turn the event into a monthly pop-up.
· Brooklyn Foodies Supper in Silence [WSJ]
· All Hipsters Coverage on Eater [-E-]