Once a series of themed dinner parties, now a multifaceted Creative Agency.

A few years ago, we began this business by hosting multi-course dinner parties where we told stories about food history, mythology and symbolism through food. After over 12 events, we pivoted our focus and began helping other businesses tell their stories.

Because you must always begin at the beginning: this is our story.

ONCE UPON A TIME, as an outgrowth of her love of entertaining friends and acquaintances with surprising anecdotes about food history, Liz Birnbaum set along a breadcrumb-filled path. It was the Summer of 2015 when she spoke to a crowd of 200 Santa Cruzans about her (honestly) very vague idea. She envisioned a creative, multi-faceted, and rather odd kind of project.

“I will weave stories about the history of food into a multi-course meal experience,” she proclaimed to the gathered crowd. “I will help people see the stories hidden on their plates — stories which have been there all along, but were somehow just out of reach! This will transform the way we all look at food.” And the crowd went wild! Actually, they didn’t. They probably applauded, but they mostly just scratched their heads.

A couple weeks later, Liz got to see if her concept had legs, and on July 9, 2015 she hosted her first Feast: A Taste of Ancient Greece. By dessert, she described it as an absolute, if improbable, dream come true. She had found her life’s thread, and it was a Gesamtkunstwerk of art, stories, and food.

Then, to her great delight, it actually took off.

With what felt like a flash flood of press interest, The Curated Feast was featured in all the local papers, Edible Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz Waves, in digital magazines, and an international podcast.

At the Feasts, food was both primary and secondary to the aim of gathering; it was always a vehicle for communicating deeper stories — a sneaky way to get people into a learning environment while woo-ing them with an elaborate meal and unique dining experience.

The series of Feasts began by exploring more literal, geographic topics such as a six-course journey through six ancient cities along the Silk Road, and then it moved into archetypes, fables, and twists upon classic tales such as the Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and 1,001 Nights.

The stories were surprising, funny, moving, strange, and exciting. The guests raved, saying wonderfully complimentary things like:

“Attending a Curated Feast is a profoundly moving experience. At first, guests are moved by the beauty of the scene laid out before them. The setting is intimate and comfortable, yet refined. Because the space has been decorated with symbols related to the theme of the feast, it holds a whisper of sacredness, the details of which are unfolded with great care over the course of the meal.”