The City of Romainville, along with all the regional actors dedicated to the transition towards more sustainable and resilient urban food systems, invites you to join the inaugural edition of “Romainville Comestible”, the festival of gastronomic transitions, taking place in Romainville, France from 23 to 29 September. This event promises to bring participants all together to share collective, delightful, and tasty moments!
During the festival, it will be possible to explore the local producer and culinary creator market, embark on a gastronomic “treasure hunt” organised by local retailers, and indulge in a food court showcasing the creations of the 12 culinary projects from Brigade’23. To promote the sustainable food transition, the festival will feature a wide array of workshops, including Ayurvedic cooking with Boom’in Ayurveda, plant-based pastry making with Toupet, Lacto-fermentation with the Fervent Ferment collective, home vegetable preservation with Micro-Ressources, discovering edible wild plants with Jardin e(s)t la recette, and gourmet vegan cooking with Exquis. Participants will also have the chance to attend the first municipal honey production with Les Ruchers de Romainville.
The Maryse Bastié school group cafeteria will also join the festival by developing “special festival” thematic menus prepared by the school chef and the students. Additionally, they will host an afternoon activity focused on food with leisure centres. On Saturday, a “recup’ chef.fe.s” cooking competition, organised by Cheffes, will raise awareness about waste reduction and anti-waste cooking.
The festival will include moments of reflection and cultural meetings as well. The Maison de la Philo organises two workshops for young and old people, while Cheffes welcomes participants on Sunday for a “Brunch & Gestural Conference” about the tasty revolution, presented by the Les Pieds dans le Plat collective, which assisted the city in establishing the school kitchen at Maryse Bastié. An opportunity to exchange ideas and understand how a population adapts and how the social food space transforms during times of conflict awaits during the meeting with the artists Juliette Turrini and Scott A. Laurent about the exhibition “Food in Times of War”, created following their visits to Ukraine since 2022.
During the festival, the 4th consultation workshop “Champ des possibles” will be held with the Gagarine residents to discuss the new food transformation space to be established in the neighbourhood in 2024.
The food transition can only be achieved through solidarity. In this respect, an exciting treasure hunt, organised by the Baluchon incubator, will allow a group of social benefit recipients in career transition to explore iconic culinary businesses in Romainville.
Art in all its forms will not be overlooked: there will be gastronomic tours of the Pavilion by the Bolides Collective, eco-theatre workshops on food by the Les Arborescent.e.s Company, and a slam poetry workshop with the Sporting Club de Poésie.
Finally, Opera Apéro and the Grande Parade Métèque will take the stage on two evenings during the festival days. On Wednesday 27 September, at the CasseDalle Garden, the opera company will organise an Opera Bouffe et Malbouffe, a preview of the new performance scheduled for May at the Pavilion. The actors will be supported by a “Malbouffe resident” choir, formed during a cooking-singing workshop at the Marcel Cachin Community Centre. The evening will end with the Opera Apéro, as usual, featuring a festive and participatory meal, including a recipe contest hosted by the artists. As the grand finale of the festival, the Grande Parade Métèque presents the Café Métèque Convivial at the CasseDalle garden, a musical and storytelling gathering featuring the sharing of dishes, stories, memories, and cultures.
