About Us

Dinner Exchange Berlin is a series of convivial gatherings of people who are interested in the issue of food waste as well as a catering service. Prior to the dinner, lunch or breakfast, we collect food that would otherwise go to waste from markets, bakeries, wine merchants, coffee shops and other food distributors. From this random collection of ingredients we create innovative dishes and, hopefully, situations of vibrant social interaction. After each event, part of the income goes to initiatives and organizations concerned with food waste.

Lately, we have been asked in the framework of different festivals and events (Biennale di Venezia; documenta 13; Climate KIC Germany; HAU/raumlabor; KW – Institute for Contemporary Art; Salon Populaire; Kunstraum Kreuzberg) to organize dinners & breakfasts, to which we invited guests from diverse fields –art, architecture, dance, science– to discuss and performatively present a specific topic.

Our first Dinner Exchange took place on Sunday, October 16th, 2011, in a Berlin artist studio/flat in Berlin-Kreuzberg.

If you would like to book us for a unique catering service or reserve a place at one of our events please write to: dinnerexchangeberlin@gmail.com.

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Dinner Exchange Berlin ist sowohl ein konviviales Zusammentreffen von Menschen, die sich für das Thema Verschwendung interessieren, als auch ein Catering Service. Am jeweiligen Tag werden aus auf diversen Märkten gespendeten Lebensmittelresten, die normalerweise von den Vertreibern weggeworfen werden, Gerichte zubereitet. Nach jeder Veranstaltung gehen ein Teil der Einnahmen an Organisationen, die sich für bessere Lebensmittelverteilung einsetzen.

Unser Menü ist je nach den verfügbaren Lebensmittelresten von Supermärkten, Wochenmärkten und anderen Lebensmittelvertreibern dem Zufallsprinzip unterworfen. Unserer Kreativität ist dabei keine Grenzen gesetzt. Wir bemühen uns stets, in der Qualität der von uns gezauberten Gerichte keine Kompromisse einzugehen.

Neben von uns selbst organisierten Essen wurden wir im Rahmen verschiedener Festivals und Veranstaltungen (z.B. Biennale di Venezia; documenta 13; Climate KIC Germany; HAU/raumlabor; KW – Institute for Contemporary Art; Salon Populaire; Kunstraum Kreuzberg) gebeten, Abendessen und Frühstücke zu veranstalten, zu denen wir Gäste aus verschiedenen Bereichen –Kunst, Architektur, Tanz, Wissenschaft– einluden, ein bestimmtes Thema zu diskutieren und performativ darzustellen.

Unsere erste Veranstaltung fand am 16. Oktober 2011 in einem Wohnatelier in Berlin-Kreuzberg statt.

Catering-Anfragen und Reservierungen unter: dinnerexchangeberlin@gmail.com.

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Sandra Teitge (*1982, Berlin-Köpenick) organises exhibitions in apartments, on boats, and in cultural spaces and is passionate about food. She studied Art & Visual History (MA) in Berlin and Media Studies and French (BA) at the University of Sussex in Brighton and at the Nouvelle Sorbonne in Paris. Sandra is currently co-organising the Pavilion of Georgia at the 55th Biennale di Venezia as assistant curator/project manager. Most recently, she worked in the artistic office of the 7th Berlin Biennale as curatorial assistant after a few years of gaining experience in commercial art galleries and private collections. Sandra regularly writes for diverse magazines and zines and contributed to the publication Metropolitan Views II. Art Scenes in Berlin 1989-2009. She is one of the initiators of the mobile exhibition series MASA BERLIN and the Salon d’Acre.

Sarah Mewes (*1983, Berlin) is a journalist currently working for a real-time news agency in London, writing about the European political economy. She holds an MSc in Political Sociology from the London School of Economics and a BA in Social Sciences from Goldsmiths, University of London, in addition to a graduate diploma in law as well as a legal practice certificate from BPP Law School London. Prior to becoming a journalist, Sarah worked for Transparency International in Cameroon, the Public Interest Law Institute in Budapest, the Volkswagen CSR department in Berlin, various legal aid practices across London, as well as undertaking a foray into corporate law. She enjoys exploring different cultures, not least through their culinary practices.