Living Deliciously: An Interview With Nitehawk Cinema’s “Film Feast” Culinary Director Stewart Gary
Xero Gravity
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Trust me, you’ll be feasting with more than just your eyes at Brooklyn’s Nitehawk Cinema very soon. Ari Aster’s Midsommar was the latest “Film Feast” presentation, and although no hallucinogens were involved, an immersive and fulfilling night was definitely had.
I had absolutely no shot at grabbing my routine slice of pizza on the way home from the theater. We were treated to a “highly curated six-course menu, all themed to the film (Nordic! Summer! Mysticism!)” each paired with a beverage curated by Nitehawk’s Culinary Director Stewart Gary, and Beverage Director Nick Dodge.
At our seats, we were met with a Nordic trail mix with sheep butter popcorn and started the film tasting a Swedish rabbit meatball and a quail egg sambal shooter. A necessary beer and shot combo of Aquavit (the national spirit of Scandinavia) for the more traumatic scenes, but I couldn’t get enough of that Enlightenment Dandelion Wine!
The night took a while to digest, but afterward, we spoke with Stewart Gary to get a little insight on how to pull off an evening like this.
Dread Central: What are the challenges of creating a menu to be paired with a film?
Stewart Gary: In general, the hardest part is timing. We are at the mercy of the film to match up scenes with a dish and there are often times where the film doesn’t line up with how we would like to ideally serve a coursed menu. Midsommar is a great example of a challenging story structure with the first 25 minutes being fairly devoid of any direct references and also a very heavy subject matter. Once the characters arrive in Sweden there is content to pull from almost every shot and it becomes a matter of deciding which references work best.
DC: What aspects of Ari Aster’s ‘Midsommar’ were you most excited to emulate with your dining course?
SG: For sure the meat pie. It is such a memorable scene from the movie and it is always exciting when the guests get to eat exactly what is being shown on the screen.
This movie has such a strong setting it allows us to focus on a specific cuisine, in this case Nordic.
DC: What’s next for Film Feasts? Are there any films you are looking to create a menu for, and generally, where would you start?
SG: Our next Film Feast will be Demolition Man. With Taco Bell having won the Franchise Wars expect a lot of Doritos Locos and Baja Blast. In the fall we will be doing Big Night, a film with some exciting food on screen that I hope I can do justice for Primo.
There’s a good chance you’ll catch me at the next Nitehawk Film Feast for Demolition Man on August 9th. You can reserve your seats now. Will I see you there? Let me know @idkgravity.
Nitehawk Cinema staff getting into character.
Categorized:Interviews News
