Good Things Come In Threes: No 2 Jette Verdi

Did your parents tell you to never play with your food? We suspect that Jette Virdi’s didn’t. As we chat to this Southampton-born art director and food stylist, she’s putting the finishing touches on some onigiri sushi and coconut macaroons. Her creations look more like tiny works of architecture than the delectable nibbles they are.

It makes sense that Virdi’s banquets are as much a feast for the eyes as the palette. “I come from a design background,” she explains. “So I’m much more visual that I am with weighing, measuring, working to precise recipes”.

By embracing a desire to seek out fresh ideas – a nature shared by Jameson – Jette has a made a profound impact on her adopted city in the year or so since arriving from Mexico (where she renovated and ran a once-abandoned hotel). All of her projects come from an urge to create new, open social possibilities and build a community of (adventurous people) dying for new experiences.

One of those projects is Long Table Suppers, which connects people over one of those universal human needs: stuffing our faces with unbelievably delicious food. “Supper clubs are sort of the AirBnB of dining”, Virdi says. Complementing her formidable culinary skills with a panache for dressing up out-of-the-ordinary venues, these evenings are a loud, lively alternative to the formalities of restaurant dining; just like Jameson, Ginger and Lime, it’s an exciting new way to enjoy ageless favourites.

Long Table is not just a showcase of gourmet pyrotechnics, however. “I don’t want people to pay money for the supper clubs to fill my pockets,” she says. The proceeds of each meal go towards fine causes, like Men’s Sheds and Marriage Equality. After the success of Dublin editions of the club, it is preparing to go on tour. Next up: Dingle, Amsterdam and London.

After the dishes are done and the banquet tables folded up, Virdi finds time to work on The Creatives, an open-ended organisation based around people from a plethora of different backgrounds pooling their expertise (and upper-body strength) to build new projects in their communities. There’s no such thing as a typical member: “one of the guys - I call him the man-help - he’s a cancer researcher. He’s in the labcoat all day, and then comes around with his tools and his ladders after work and asks ‘what can I do right now?’. Being involved has opened him up to learning photography from another one of the crew.”

As with her own work, The Creatives is all about tracing those invisible connections, and having the trust in your instincts to knot them together. “What I’ll always tell people who want to be involved is: take a chance, take a gamble.”

Doing it your own way -- I ask her -- does it always pay off? She doesn’t bat an eyelid: “Yes!”

Jameson certainly feels the same way.

See how you can combine the ideal ingredients of the perfect night out and experience something different with Jameson, Ginger & Lime.
This summer, they are giving you the chance to win a Jameson experience for you and two friends, after all three is the magic number.

To enter just visit [link]jamesoncultfilmclub.ie/jameson-ginger-and-lime[/link]

*Competition closes May 30th. T&Cs apply. The competition is valid for over 18s only.