POLYMATH Anthony Burgess, so multi-talented they named an
International Foundation after him, dabbled in food as well as novel writing,
serious composing and other cultural pursuits, This facet of hyperactive Manc
genius is celebrated in The Devil’s
Supper at the Foundation on Friday, March 11.
After a signature Burgess aperitif, the potent Hangman’s Blood you
get to sample his fave dishes such as hot pot and trifle (inspired by the
author’s own recipe in verse), prepared by acclaimed chef Mary-Ellen McTague,
best known for higher-flown culinary conceits during her time at Aumbry,
Prestwich.
Food at this one-off event will be interspersed with readings and
artistic interventions to tie in with a new exhibition exploring food’s
references and usage within Burgess’s texts, also called The Devil’s Supper,
curated by Feast, “an online exploration of nourishment’s cultural links”.
Guests at the special supper will get a preview of the exhibition,
which will open on March 23. Artistic contributors to the event
include Marie Toseland a current Open School East fellow who has recently
undertaken residencies at Tate St Ives and Standpoint gallery London.
Taste of Manchester, at the risk of being dubbed philistine, is
rather more taken with Burgess’s own more robust approach to his guts.
‘You can always
tell a bad novelist by the way he or she deals with eating,’ he wriote. ‘”After
breakfast they resumed their journey.” But what, for heaven’s sake, did they
have for breakfast? Dickens never leaves us in any doubt: hot muffins, mutton chops,
grilled kidneys, eggs like miniature dawns, thick slices of good red beef,
coffee hot and strong like a punch to the gullet’.
Friday March 11,
International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Engine House, Chorlton Mill, 3
Cambridge Street, Manchester, M1 5BY, 6pm, £30.