Appetite Obscure
Appetite Obscure is a surrealist dining collective founded by Albert Alexander and Richie Rhombus. Since 2013, we have hosted dozens of events for over 1,000 people.
Every course is a miniature interactive experience. In Richie’s Windy Sea Storm, for example, the diner stands in two bucket of water (one hot, one cold), wears safety goggles, and is fed white fish and mango salsa while a powerful fan blows arugula in their face.
A typical potluck will have between 30 and 200 participants and at least 10 such dishes. It depends what people bring.
Albert is currently hosting meals and workshops in SF and NYC. Register to receive your invite.
Every course is a miniature interactive experience. In Richie’s Windy Sea Storm, for example, the diner stands in two bucket of water (one hot, one cold), wears safety goggles, and is fed white fish and mango salsa while a powerful fan blows arugula in their face.
A typical potluck will have between 30 and 200 participants and at least 10 such dishes. It depends what people bring.
Albert is currently hosting meals and workshops in SF and NYC. Register to receive your invite.
Bar Fight. A punching bag is loaded with ingredients for a whisky cocktail. A volunteer is given boxing gloves. The Rocky soundtrack plays, the ringside bell dings, and the diner boxes until frothy. The finished drink is poured into a coupe glass and drunk to thunderous applause.
(Albert Alexander)
(Albert Alexander)
Deep Sea Lime Dive. Diners bob for limes in salty seawater captured from the San Francisco Bay. If successful, they are rewarded with rum.
(Anonymous)
(Anonymous)
Eight Escapes. A diner is locked in a rolling trunk and wheeled crazily around the basement. At each of eight stops, they are fed a powerful elixer of strange herbs and flavors.
(Richie Rhombus)
(Richie Rhombus)
Brain Freeze. The diner is enveloped in a sleeping bag in a hammock. They wear ski goggles illuminated by a blinking bicycle light. A guided meditation plays while they are fed spoonfuls of ice cream.
(Sam Gilbert)
(Sam Gilbert)
Two female diners have a fallopian experience involving fresh figs.
(Richie Rhombus)
(Richie Rhombus)
Hashassin. A server sneaks up on an unsuspecting diner from behind. After confirming that they are not allergic to potatoes, they serve them a spoonful of hash browns. The diner is then invited to join the secret order of hashassins, which requires them to ambush another diner in the same way.
(Albert Kong)
(Albert Kong)
Three Temptations. The diner confronts a series of seducers offering love (candy), wealth (mayonnaise), and status (theft of meal). They are coached to abstain, eating a plain hardboiled egg. In the process they uncover the sad secret of the Enviable Man. (Albert Alexander)
Toast for the Toast. Bread is toasted. While it is toasting, the diner offers a toast. The server asseses the toast and determines what toast toppings best reflect it: salt, sweet, sour, etcetera.
(Jason Naumoff)
(Jason Naumoff)
Tsuki No Usagi. A traditional Japanese folk tale is related to the diner. No English is spoken. With the help of mime and visual aids, the diner realizes they should don a rabbit mask and hop off in search of hidden mochi. (Rebekah Randle)
Hybrid Fruit Graft. The diner stands in fertile soil. A date is grafted to their finger using a chopstick and tape. A server waters the soil and illuminates the diner until another diner arrives to eat the date. (Albert Alexander)
Antipasta. A mysterious stranger sits in the corner, speaking to nobody. Halfway through the meal, they move to the center of the room, collapse on the floor, and roll around screaming while scattering wet linguine they’d hidden under their sweater. When the organizers rush to intervene, they get to their feet and leave, never to return.
(Anonymous)
(Anonymous)
Human Egestion. A diner is shown an instruction video detailing the digestive process. At each stage, they are fed an hors d’oeuvre representing that digestive stage, from a shot of light citrus water to a handful of brownie crumbles.
(Alex Gourley)
(Alex Gourley)
The Revolution of Dignity. A diner is blindfolded. A vial of borscht is dangled in front of them using a fishing pole. The diner grasps aroudn blindly until they seize the vial and drink it.
(Nia Person)
(Nia Person)
Rise Up. Diners gather at the base of a hill. They each choose a flag to align themselves with and march along interweaving paths until they meet at the top of the hill, where they share cuisine from historical revolutions.
Thesauromancy. The diners’ fortune is told via using a verbal diagram. They receive their fortune in the form of a custom elixer with symbolic ingredients.
(Julie Crossman)
(Julie Crossman)
Chronos Island. Diners are transported to a private island via boat. On the island reside characters from centuries and millenia past, each offering food and performances.
Subterranean Rendezvous. Ten diners are broken into pairs and given assignments, eg. Echo Architects are in charge of sound, humorists (armed with large orange ball) are in charge of morale. Each diner collaborates with their counterpart on a dish. Each team enters a mile-long storm drain from opposite ends, five via a muddy creek and five via a canoe in the Alameda straight. They meet in the middle of the storm drain for a surreptitious dinner.
(Albert Alexander and Richie Rhombus)
(Albert Alexander and Richie Rhombus)
Edible Equity Exchange. The diner offers up whatever is in their pockets. An equity artisan crafts custom currency in return: a small sheet of potato starch paper printed with an edible juice reduction using a pepper-grinder stamp. The diner is free to spend or eat the currency as they please.
(Albert Alexander)
(Albert Alexander)
Objectify Me. A server dressed as a 1950’s housewife makes herself both table and cutting board for the hungry diner. In order to cut the ingredients, the diner must make use of the knife held by the server, twisting her arm behind her back.
(Andrea Passwater)
(Andrea Passwater)
What Is Funny? A clown dressed only in tighty whities, hat, and bicycle horn confesses to a sucrose addiction. They beg and plead with the attendees until someone finally agrees to pie them.
(Richie Rhombus)
(Richie Rhombus)
Mirror Mimic. Two diners sit opposite each other at a prepared table. Every ingredient on the table has a corresponding ingredient in the same spot on the other side. One diner mirrors the other, combining different ingredients using the same motions.
(Anonymous)
(Anonymous)