The Sin Eaters through the eyes of Hildegard Von Bingen

By Alice Héron and Martin Butler

The Sin Eaters is a culinary experience created by chef and artist Alice Héron and the director Martin Butler. During 9 evenings in February 2022, participants were immersed in the incredible world of Hildegard von Bingen and the act of eating their sins away!

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Listening to Pride - Discovering our Sin Eaters experience! Pride is a dish that formed part of our Sin Eaters Dinner this February 2022. For this dish, our guests were served the dish with a mirror in front of them so that they would eat looking at themselves in it. As a treat, they were given a message 'You will never be this young again'. The Sin Eaters is a 8-course dinner explores how the natural world can be harnessed to achieve balance in body and mind, according to Hildegard von Bingen. Thereby the dinner focusses on 8 deadly sins. From anger… Andrea Valdivia

Hildegard Von Bingen left us a fascinating knowledge on plants, herbs, ingredients to avoid and which to take. Despite the thousand years that have passed since her death, her advices are still valid today. The diner is a cure for people. They were allowed to wash their sins, through a culinary and theatrical journey of 8 dishes combined with lights, music and scents. 

8 dishes for 8 sins. In Hildegard's time, sadness was also part of the different sins. The list of sins that we know now was created by Thomas Aquinas in XIIIe century, and does not include sadness.

"Tonight we are welcoming his return!"

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I-Chen Zuffellato - Reading for our guests during the Sin Eaters Dinner. This 8-course dinner explores how the natural world can be harnessed to achieve balance in body and mind, according to Hildegard von Bingen. Thereby the dinner focusses on 8 deadly sins. From anger to lust and from gluttony to pride, each dark emotion turns into an edible spectacle that gives the opportunity to eat away your sins. Photo taken on February 24th, 2022.  Andrea Valdivia

I-Chen Zuffellato was hosting the event by performing throughout the all evening. She was guiding the crowd into the different rooms and into each props that were coming with the sin. To highlight each sin, the atmosphere in between each course was changing thanks to a change of light, of music and of props to make the experience richer. Guests were not only eaters but performers as well.  
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A dish of Pride - Get to know our Sin Eaters Dinner! Pride is a dish that formed part of our Sin Eaters Dinner this February with fennel. For this dish, our guests were served the dish to look at themselves into the mirror, and after were told to look at themselves while eating. Here, Pride is being served on a wooden plank to our guests. The Sin Eaters is a 8-course dinner explores how the natural world can be harnessed to achieve balance in body and mind, according to Hildegard von Bingen. Thereby the dinner focusses on 8 deadly sins. From… Andrea Valdivia

With: Alice Héron
Enjoy the voice of I-Chen transporting you to other horizons, fly, let your mind wander, your limbs relax... A pure meditative pleasure.
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People enjoying Lust - Our guests holding a rose petal as a sign of Lust! Lust is a dish that formed part of our Sin Eaters Dinner this February. For this dish, our guests were served the dish in their palm, after being given rose petals to place in their eyes and cleaned their hands with a towel. The Sin Eaters is a 8-course dinner explores how the natural world can be harnessed to achieve balance in body and mind, according to Hildegard von Bingen. Thereby the dinner focusses on 8 deadly sins. From anger to lust and from gluttony to pride, each dark emotion turns… Andrea Valdivia

Each dish is composed only by ingredients that were locally growing in Germany or Central Europe in Hildegard's time. This aspect was quite a challenge, a lot of ingredients that we consume nowadays arrived in Europe quite late. After each sin followed a cure; a scent created in our Aroma Lab to remove the sins of each of the participant. Thank you to all the participants who joined us for this wonderful experience!  
Rest in piece Hildegard von Bingen and Amen!