Edinburgh Food Studio

Edinburgh-raised chef and food explorer Ben Reade and partner Sashana Souza Zanella, an anthropologist and chef, are creating the Edinburgh Food Studio as the centre of their journeys into cooking, eating, tasting, discovering and researching Scotland's food. From late October 2015, the studio will be open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings for a fixed-menu dinner around communal tables which they hope will evolve into collaborative ventures with guest chefs, artists and musicians. The space will be used during the rest of the week for master classes, tastings and mini conferences ranging from fermentation or butchery workshops to sessions focussing on research for their proposed online journal. Reade was previously based in Copenhagen as head of Research & Development at the Nordic Food Lab, and was one half of the pop-up Scratch Series restaurant in Edinburgh in early 2015. Both Reade and Zanella are graduates of the Slow Food inspired University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy.

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The Edinburgh Food Studio is about many things, but the one constant is a genuine passion for food expressed through creative, considered cooking. Chefs Sashana Souza Zanella and Ben Reade have an impressive list of credentials, including research at Noma’s Nordic Food Lab and aim to turn their simply presented venue into an event space for all kinds of food. At the beginning of the week that means research, training, and general experimentation in gastronomy. At the end of the week the doors open to host showcase dinners and events, with regular high-profile guest chefs as well as the EFS team. Diners may, of course, engage in as much or as little of this as they like, and simply enjoying a meal is absolutely fine too. Sourcing inevitably goes far beyond nodding to the local and seasonal and every day is different. The relaxed communal dining experience won’t suit everyone, but the informal homely space feels like going to a dinner party at a friend’s, albeit with a unique sense of occasion and outstanding food.

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