Honey & Co team diversify beyond food
Creative classes and talks designed to spark joy are at the heart of Israeli-run food empire's latest initiative
Louisa Walters is Features Editor at the Jewish News and specialises in food and travel writing
Spoken like a true foodie: “What can we do between the meals, how can we bring the joy between them?”
Itamar Srulovich, co-founder of Honey & Co, was speaking at the launch of The Joy Season, a programme of events designed to bring people together through food, craft and conversation.
This new initiative is at Honey & Co Studio on Lamb’s Conduit Street – just across from the restaurant. At the front is a deli counter with fresh cakes, sandwiches and seasonal treats, plus shelves of pantry staples, cookbooks and Honey & Co favourites. Behind it, the space opens out into a light-filled studio made for events, workshops and talks.
Speaking at the launch last week Itamar said: “It’s very easy for us to forget in restaurants and in food, that our work is about joy. It’s about taking people out from their day for an hour or two, so that they have a really, really nice moment. We always say that we have three opportunities in a day [to do this], and that’s breakfast, lunch and dinner. And then if you’re really connected, there’s mid morning – when people ask how do I get my waistline, it’s like that!”
Itamar and his wife Sarit Packer, who are both Israeli, founded Honey & Co 13 years ago. “When we had this space [the studio], we said what can we do between the meals, how can we bring the joy between them? What are the things that make us happy? We want this space to be for people to come and discover something new about themselves that gives them joy,.”
Creatives and experts will be leading the studio events, which include life drawing, gin tasting, kimchi classes, meditation, flower arranging, dancing and more. Sarit and Itamar will share their love of ceramics – a lockdown hobby that became an obsession – with a pinch pot class.
“In our industry we like meeting people, talking to them, reminding them what their passion is, and for them to inspire us to continue doing what we’re doing,” said Itamar.
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