EatWith Me!

Have you heard about EatWith?  It’s a web-based platform that builds community by bringing people together through food.  EatWith enables people to experience authentic food experiences with local hosts in over 130 countries.  The company is truly international, with offices in Paris, Barcelona, Tel Aviv, San Francisco, and London.  EatWith has a veritable army of 20,000 hosts, and the platform reportedly offers 5,000 culinary experiences.  Wow.

Experiences offered by EatWith hosts can vary widely — including meals, cooking classes, and food tours.  The critical ingredients are authenticity and social eating.  What’s not to like about that?

Sweet Memories of a Community Food Event in Rome

When I first learned about the EatWith platform, I recalled a food tour that we took while traveling with family and friends in Italy a few years ago.  It was an early evening tour of the Trastevere neighborhood along the Tiber River, and it was a highlight of our visit to Rome.  The friendly and well-informed guide led us through a series of special food experiences as we strolled down Trastevere’s charming, cobblestone pathways.  We started the tour with a snack in an umbrella-shaded outdoor cafe and then descended into an historic cellar for a sip or two of wine.  As the tour continued, we sampled the famous Arancina rice balls (see the photo on the left of my daughter Holly with one of them).  Later we learned how to select only the best, most authentic gelato.  It was an evening to remember, and I can clearly understand the appeal of the social dining experiences that EatWith offers.

So, having been intrigued by the possibility of offering EatWith events of my own, I answered EatWith’s invitation to become one of their hosts.  I filled out the online application with details about myself and the first experience I would offer, and I was thrilled to receive approval from EatWith for my “audition event.”

Duties of the EatWith Host

The EatWith host is expected to provide more than just excellent food. The EatWith host is supposed to create a special social experience.  But that’s not all.  I soon learned that EatWith strategically assigns the marketing duties for the audition event to the prospective host.  I think that’s a very clever way for EatWith to expand their customer base, as well as being a good test of the prospective host’s mettle!  So although my event was posted on the EatWith platform, it did not show up in searches.  That meant I needed to forward the link to friends and family with the hope that they would register as guests.  Initially, the signups for my event were slow — and I began to worry that nobody would come.  But then I noticed a burst of registration activity a few weeks before the event, and soon all of the 10 seats had been taken.  So I added another table and raised the event capacity to 16.  Not long afterwards, the new table filled to capacity as well!  Of course, that kind of success brought up some interesting challenges, because preparing and serving a plated meal for 16 guests is no easy task.

Providing an End-of-Summertime Feast

My audition event was held on Labor Day weekend, so I promoted it as an end-of-summertime feast. The dinner featured a multi-course, plated meal consisting of traditional summertime favorites. But all of the recipes were designed to be healthier, vegan versions of the original food.  Here’s the menu for the event, with a description of each item (and links are provided to the recipes that are on my website):

• Chilled Tomato Soup
  It’s hard to imagine a better way to use fresh, juicy tomatoes than to prepare a refreshing batch of chilled soup. Similar to Gazpacho, this cold blended soup employs the freshest tomatoes for maximum flavor and includes some avocado for just the right texture.
• Vegan Carrot Hotdogs in Whole Wheat Buns
  You have to try it to believe it. A fresh carrot, when soaked in a flavorful marinade and grilled to perfection, can imitate the taste and texture of a meat hotdog. I serve my carrot hotdogs on whole wheat buns and provide plenty of fixin’s so that my guests can customize their dog.
• Potato, Veggie, and Chickpea Salad
  Potato salad is a staple item at many summertime picnics — for good reason, because it is delicious and refreshing. My vegan version of the dish improves on the original by adding some creamy chickpeas and a variety of crisp, colorful veggies, and by using a whipped tofu binder rather than mayonnaise.
• Vegan Baked Beans
  My vegan baked beans derive their intense, sweet-yet-tangy flavor from being slow-cooked in the oven for at least six hours.
• Black-Bean Brownies with Chocolate Ganache Icing
  Even a healthy vegan diet must make room for some chocolate. These black bean brownies are a very tasty treat, and — as a bonus — they pack a nutritional punch that’s unusual for a dessert dish.

The Guests at My Event

The guests at my event included: family members (Mike, Wanda, and Holly); friends (Tonja, Larry, Tim, and Laura); friends of my friends (Elysia, Eric, Galina, Art, and Karen); and a food writer and her husband (Priya and Marco).  I could not have asked for a better bunch of guests!  They were all intrepid in one way or another — with some of them coming to dinner at a stranger’s house and some of them bravely tasting their first vegan dinner.

Despite the range of ages and backgrounds, everyone at the dinner jumped right into the social component of the meal.  They willingly participated in the ice breaker activity that I provided when they entered, and conversation at the tables was fun and lively.

The carrot hotdogs were the biggest hit on the menu, probably because it’s such an unexpected substitute for a regular dog.  But the guests apparently liked the meaty texture and smoky flavor — and some of them even requested a second dog.

If you’d like to read about the event from another perspective, I hope you will check out the wonderful article that was posted by Priya.  I was certainly fortunate to have a food writer at my first EatWith event!

Next Up?

Now that I’ve successfully navigated the role of EatWith host, I look forward to planning another event in the coming months.  With fall on the way, perhaps I’ll devise a pumpkin-themed event…  Or maybe a holiday party.  In any case, I am sure that it will be great fun to EatWith a bunch of friendly people again soon!