Lara Rodgers and Bobbie Garbutt, founders of the Sketch & Supper Club
Lara and Bobbie, what is the Sketch & Supper Club?
Lara: It’s a club for people who want to rediscover a connection with food, switch off from modern life, and nourish their curiosity. We meet monthly to share a slow-cooked meal, do some sketching, listen to a guest speaker, and talk.
How did you come up with the idea?
Bobbie: We worked together in Grenada in 2015. Lara was interning at my family hotel and we decided to set up a street food stall called Waleema (‘feast’ in Arabic) at the container park on Friday nights. We kept it really simple – lamb tagine or local veg stew with couscous. Our tagline was – ‘Middle Eastern Feasters in the West Indies’. While the concept has evolved, our love of simple, slow food is still at the heart of it.
'Waleema', Grenada, 2015
‘Slow food’ is a phrase you hear a lot, but what exactly does it mean?
Lara: It’s a global movement which links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment. Traditional cooking reinforces culture and heritage, but it does something else too: it reconnects us with our food and its origins. There are few things to match the delight of baking your own focaccia, drenching it in oil infused with herbs you planted and tended, and sharing it with friends.
Bobbie: I grew up spending Sundays at my grandmother’s house at our family plantation in Grenada, tucking into mutton curries and split pea dals that had been simmering all day. Traditional cooking was all I knew. Everything was made from scratch, and there were no shortcuts. Until I moved to England, I'd never even had a take-away or ready-meal. Although fascinated at first, fast food feels very alien to me. That’s why we emphasise a return to tradition. It’s like the safe haven of home.
Where might we find you on a Friday night?
Lara: As I work in hospitality, Friday night is usually spent conserving energy, via a book or a bath, before a busy weekend. When I get the chance, my favourite evening is a meal with friends. Making pasta brings me so. much. joy. but if I want to eat it without the work – I’ll go to Peppeckish in Peckham. Giuseppe’s homemade pasta is soul food at its best.
Bobbie: I don’t eat out much. It’s more of an occasional treat. So, if I’m not working, I’ll have a small group of friends over for supper, testing a new menu on them or making a simple one-pot ragu. A bath is prerequisite before bed, to switch off and collect my thoughts, particularly after a long day in the kitchen.
London has experienced a boom in supper clubs. What’s different about Sketch & Supper?
Bobbie: I suppose it’s that our evenings have a bigger aim than merely enjoying good food. We’re providing an escape from the crazy pace of modern life, encouraging people to slow down, not just by cooking them a delicious meal but also by stimulating their senses with art and conversation. Drawing quietens the mind, it can’t be rushed, and it sets the mood for the evening.
Lara: I moved to Somerset for work last year. On my quiet evenings when I needed to unwind after a long day in the restaurant, I’d get out my sketchbook and sharpen my pencils. I always loved art at school – there was something so soothing and fun about being creative, listening to music and sitting less formally than in other lessons – but when I left school I dropped it with as little thought as I dropped chemistry and economics. As soon as I started drawing again, the benefits returned, so when Bobbie and I started talking about our supper club, we knew art had to be a part of it.
What kind of drawing do you do?
Lara: We do Still life. I’ve been to life drawing classes in London and I love them but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea and out of respect for the model, they usually have a more ‘no-nonsense’ atmosphere than we wanted at our supper club. So, we do Still Life instead. Aubergines don’t take offence.
Bobbie: The subject changes month by month, led by the seasons. Expect to study the hypnotic swirls of wood grain and the crevasses in bark in February. March will draw from seascapes, foraged sea weed and shells, perhaps even a mollusc or two (no creatures are harmed for our art or vegetarian feasts). Spring will bring an abundance of colour and crops. Our tagline is ‘Still Life, Slow Food’.
"AUBERGINES DON'T TAKE OFFENCE" |
You also have guest speakers don’t you?
Lara: Yes, we are hungry humans. Not only for simmering stews but also for knowledge. ‘Brain-food’ is something we serve up alongside pudding, and we have a really exciting line-up of speakers – people who are doing their bit to create change in food, farming or the creative industries. For our February supper, we had Isabella White joining us from The Felix Project, a charity which collects surplus fresh food and delivers it to charities.
Isabella, Head of Community and Fundraising at The Felix Project
Why The Felix Project?
Bobbie: I did some voluntary work at Refettorio Felix, helping to create a three-course lunch to feed the vulnerable from produce supplied by The Felix Project. I loved it because it reinstated a sense of dignity – more so than your typical soup kitchen. Clients are instead served at the table, restaurant style, and the menu is carefully curated by the head chef every day.
What type of people do you hope will attend Sketch & Supper Club?
Bobbie: Honestly, we’d love to appeal to everyone – all drawing abilities, ages, backgrounds and genders. Anyone who wants to switch off or just have a bit of an alternative evening than just going out for supper with friends. Even if you haven’t drawn since school, it's more about slowing down, enjoying a wholesome evening and maybe leaving a little more enlightened and hopeful.
How do people register their interest?
For upcoming dates and to purchase tickets, just go to our website . Our Instagram accounts @thesustenancecollective & @lunalarder also have the links to the event page. You can follow us for updates on our menus, recipes and food waste tips as well as info on upcoming collaborations and guest speakers for future events.
And if they want to run the evening for a private event like a birthday or hen do – could they do that?
Lara: Absolutely, If you want to celebrate with something more original than another pub, club or bottomless brunch, look no further. We’d love to create bespoke Sketch & Supper parties for you and your friends, or make it a team-building exercise with work colleagues.
Thank you Bobbie and Lara!
