What went down at food + drink + stories Berlin
It’s funny how you can plan something for a year, and then you do it, and it’s over like that. It’s also funny sometimes where you plan something and you’re left wanting more.
On Wednesday last, we held our first This Next Thing satellite dinner in Berlin. I first sat down with Eamo in July 2023 and we discussed running other events in addition to the main one in Switzerland. I don’t know how many iterations we went through before finally settling on food + drink + stories, but I think the process led us right into the Goldilocks zone of event format, which went beautifully this week.
The venue was FREA: a vegan, zero-waste, Michelin green-starred restaurant in central Berlin. The menu very conveniently catered to nearly every dietary requirement without any changes: an elegant mushroom tartare, the most delicious arancini you’ll ever taste, a simple but delicious “Sorrentino” pasta, and a grand finale of chocolate with pear and sea-buckthorn.
The host was Tom Preston-Werner: Tom came and spoke at all three Funconfs, and we first met him in Berlin, so it was so fitting that he was the one to kick things off. Tom helped us to choose three storytellers from amongst the signed up guests.
Tom kicked things off by telling his own story about taking risks, before inviting everyone to commence eating. There would be one story between each course of food, each running about 5–6 minutes, and each just as delightful as the delicious food.
After the first course, we heard from Fiona Kelly, partner in Broadstone, who told a story about taking a chance on adopting a rescue dog, and it leading to her adopting another dog who is now being trained as a human remains detection dog.
After the second course, Tom invited Dani Choudhury, core maintainer on RedwoodJS, to tell his story. Dani told a story about how he got into amateur DJing, and how – while he never plans on pursuing a career in musical performance – DJing fulfills him in a way that his professional work never could.
We had a natural break in proceedings when the restaurant threw out an off-menu palate cleanser, much to the delight of everyone.
After the third course, our final storyteller of the night, Gráinne Walsh, stood up to speak about her experience going from working in tech to starting a brewing business, and the twists and turns that a career could take.
We wrapped up by tying the thread between us, Tom, Scott Chacon (who essentially named Funconf), and Jan Lehnardt, whose meeting with Eamon in 2007 could easily claim to be the singular moment unfurling events leading to all of us gathering in that very room in Berlin.
As happens with This Next Thing, Funconf, and every gathering where we bring together the amazing people in our community, the programming that we planned for was fantastic… but that’s only part of the magic. The conversations and connections that our food + drinks + stories sparked were exhilarating, and that is due completely to the participants. We are so grateful as always to everyone who attended and contributed, and we look forward to seeing you all in Dublin, San Francisco, and of course, Switzerland!