Bristol is a city well known for many great things, and it's excellent food scene and wonderful diversity are just two. Bristol local Jasmine Creusson is well immersed in both communities and plans to unite the two.
'Queer Dinners' is a brand new event that aims to support the Queer community, acting as a safe space for the community to come together. During the lockdown, Jasmine found that she along with her friends, peers and collaborators, missed the queer space, which was often focused on going out and dancing, which throughout the pandemic wasn't an option, leaving many feeling isolated.
Speaking to Bristol Live, Jasmine said: "I missed that space and it made me realise there’s no other space for us that exists outside or that 'let’s get drunk party' scene, not to say that I don’t love it but it would be nice to reconnect and get together and talk about queer issues and the queer experiences."
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Before the pandemic, Jasmine was working on a different project called four, which she told Bristol Live was not only inspired by the fact it's the French word for oven, but also as she used four participants and their stories.
"It was going to be based on cheese and wine. There was going to be ten artists who were going to create work surrounding that but everything fell through. After that it just didn’t feel right it just didn’t seem like that had much poignance" she said.
And so, Jasmine decided to work on something new. Having worked as a chef for many years as well as having a degree in performance and visual arts, she decided to combine her passions to create a safe space for the Queer community.
"As well as cooking, I also do a lot of theatre type stuff but after graduating it’s very hard to get a job especially in the arts and we all have to pay rent. I have always been into food and it’s hard watching from the side-lines, having always thought I’d love to do that.
"I grew up in rural France and was always surrounded by the grow your own way of life, kill it cook it eat it. It’s always been a part of me so I joined Watershed on a food and technology residency, and I was able to merge the two practices" Creusson told Bristol Live.
The aim for Queer Dinners is not only to provide an excellent meal but also create a community and space for closeness between attendees. "My work is much more intimate now. I use peoples stories and the stories I tell are quite personal to the participant. I also use comedy in my work. I like to make my work multisensory too," she added.
"Diners can expect good produce. Top quality for a steal of a price. I purposefully under-price my events because I feel like if I can't afford my own event then why am I doing it. I want a young and older audience but overall, accessible to all. Although it’s fine dining there won’t be price tag. You can expect hand made quality food, with local suppliers used as much as possible."
Jasmine uses Rare Butchers in Southville, Somerset based Westcombe Dairy, Bristol's Harts Bakery and Hugo’s Greengrocer as well as food foraged and home grown by herself. "I’ll be using edible flowers grown at an organic flower farm in Devon and some I’ve grown myself" she shared.
Creusson has a passion for using food that is locally sourced, as well as environmentally focused which drives her passion for foraging and growing her own food. "In some of the places I’ve worked and I’ve worked in some really top restaurants, the practices I prefer are most definitely about local producers and not having everything available all the time and that is a practice we all need to get involved with," she added.
"It challenges you as a chef and forces you to be more creative. It doesn’t have to be a bad thing that you’re limited, you have to use everything that is available. And growing your own food can be very rewarding, I couldn’t find gooseberries anywhere and I know they’re delicious but unless you have a bush you’re unlikely to find them.
"Then in Poundland I found a gooseberry twig and I was like there’s no way this is going to grow and then two years later I had these amazing rare red berries. If things are always available when you want them it doesn’t challenge you and there’s a element of looking forward to it."
There are also personal motivations behind Jasmine's choices, such as her childhood growing up Rural France. "We were sustainable because of poverty and quite literally my mum would grow the veg that would feed us. She would cook on open fires because she didn’t have gas or central heating so going back to basics is very familiar to me.
"In modern day society we have access to everything and think quicker and faster is better but it isn’t always with food and we’ve gotten out of touch with how the instant and faster element isn’t best. So, for Queer Dinners a lot of the produce I’ll be using is grown and foraged."
Jasmine has confirmed that the focus for this event will be Bisexuality, saying "Bisexual erasure is something that is often not talked about but it is an issue on the queer community, so I will use my stories and other peoples experiences."
However, she aims for Queer Dinners to gain the support and funding to have many more events. "I hope to get possible some arts council funding to help me to progress and do more of these events because I have already a lot participants who want to collaborate on the next event.
"It takes a a lot of work because I’m creating a show and content as well as food. It really is a Labour of love and often my time is irrelevant to that. My first few events were voluntary because they were self funded but I want to pay my collaborators and a pay them a good wage."
Jasmine's main aim for Queer Dinners is to not only create incredible food as well as an immersive experience to also create a space where the community can truly enjoy themselves. "I Want the audience to feel like they can open up, we can talk about us and the challenges we have and dissect a few things that never get spoken about over some amazing food and laughs and stories."
Although the event prioritises the Queer community, all those aged over 18 that wish to to learn about the Queer experience are welcome to attend. More information can be found at the website here.
