I had the will to survive Cafe de Mort
Howard Lake | 27 February 2013 | Blogs
Last night I joined some other brave (read stupid) people in a pop-up restaurant in the crypt at St Andrews Church in Holborn for some unusual dining hosted by Gregg Wallace and Remember a Charity.
I knew it would not be an ordinary night when on arrival I was asked to sign a waiver and was then presented with a glass of fizz laced with absinth, my waiter told me with much delight that too many would stop my liver working…..
Photo: Lucy Innovation
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Lethal levels
The menu was built around a selection of the world’s most deadly ingredients. The first course included Pufferfish, renowned for containing lethal levels of Tetrodotoxin. The menu stated that ‘although we take every care to remove the poison before serving there is, unfortunately no known antidote’
Other delicacies included sake and green tea martini, patties containing Ghost Chilli (officially the world’s hottest chilli – apparently being developed into a self-defence weapon) and Bloody Hell Marys that were outlawed in the 1600s because of their capacity to cause sight loss. They only became legal again in 1997.
Photo: Lucy Innovation
‘But you never know – right?’
If that wasn’t enough, we then gorged on Kluwak nut pasta, which contains hydrogen cyanide. The poison, our waiter told us, ‘can be removed with proper preparation… but you never know – right?’
We tried several other delicious and not so delicious deadly delicacies before finishing our experience with an 84.5% rum that blew our socks off.
Rob Cope, Director, Remember a Charity. Photo: Lucy Innovation
It’s an unpredictable world, so make a Will
This deathly gastronomic experience is part of a campaign by Remember a Charity to encourage us, in an unpredictable world, to leave a gift to charity in our Will.
I love the concept of Café de Mort. It was a completely different dining experience and a really special unique evening. In a world where many causes are competing for attention, Café de Mort stands out and hits the spot. But more importantly it helps to create a conversation about a difficult topic that the majority of us would rather not (and don’t) confront. The risk of death felt very real last night.
75% of us give to charity, yet only 7% leave a gift. Because we don’t like talking about death.
But leaving a gift in a Will is not about death. It’s about celebrating life. It’s an opportunity to make a real difference for the causes that we care about. Something that we will be remembered for long after we depart this planet.
As the late great Steve Jobs said, ‘we are here to put a dent in the universe’.
Leaving a gift in your will is your opportunity to make your dent. Do it today.
This blog post first appeared on LucyInnovation and is republished with permission.
Lucy Gower (@lucyinnovation) helps charities to think differently to find ways of improving their fundraising, services and communications. By using training, coaching and proven innovation tools I help charities to focus on the changes they need to make that impact positively on their people and their bottom line.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.