XO Soused - Beginnings

As we come to the end of the first season of XO Soused, we share a rough cut of a recording by Andrew and Mukta as they look back on almost 8 years of working together —from the very first research Mukta did for Andrew for the launch of his basement bar the Forbidden City to almost ending it all over their presentation at SXSW - a presentation they didn’t even deliver as a result of COVID travel restrictions.

Andrew and Mukta pick out key moments and summarise the lessons they have learned. They end with some advice for chefs and anthropologists/academics looking to do similar kinds of cultural-historical research together.

Andrew opens the Forbidden City basement bar at his restaurant A Wong in 2014. The pairings of alcohol and snacks was the first example of Mukta and Andrew working together. The relationship quickly moved from Andrew commissioning and Mukta researching, to a friendship and a co-production of knowledge

The above is an excerpt from Mukta’s research for Andrew to help come up with new pairings for snacks and drinks at the launch of the Forbidden City bar in 2014. Their relationship has changed since then - from summarising research to ‘co-production of knowledge’ via conversation - Soprano’s style.

XO Soused has been a fortnightly audio newsletter. Andrew and Mukta will be back in mid-December 2021 for a festive special before returning in Jan 2022 for season 2.

Intro and outro music: 遊子 [wanderer] by mafmadmaf.com