Jellymongers Bompas & Parr join forces with Courvoisier to present The Complete History of Food...

Where Bompas and Parr are concerned, the only thing to expect is the unexpected. Their latest stunt, The Complete History of Food, has to be their most adventurous yet, though, making gingerbread Gherkins and jelly sculptures seem comparatively run of the mill.

An interactive walk-through pop-up at Belgrave Square, open for just 5 days, was the second project that the Jellymonger duo have worked on with cool Cognac brand Courvoisier. The first saw them create the world’s biggest punchbowl in Portland Place and then row across it (how they got away with health & safety, we’ll never know), this time they were to guide us through different eras of food trends in their own inimitable way.

It all kicks off in medieval times with a visit to ‘the Doctor’ who takes a Humourist approach to diagnosing our needs. Whether we’re choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic or sanguine; we get a prescription in the form of a coloured sticker before heading down to the apothecary to get our medicine. The medicine in question is in fact all varying combinations of Courvoisier cocktails, but they certainly hit the spot, as do the accompanying nibbles created by Matt Downes of Saf (www.safrestaurant.co.uk) vegetarian restaurant.

A rather unexciting lift takes us forward 730 years to contemporary Britain. Deconstruction is the name of the game, as Alexis Gauthier (of Gautier Soho (www.gauthiersoho.co.uk) presents a “Ferrero Rocher” made from duck foie gras, filled with a port reduction and rolled in caramelised almonds and gold leaf. Lounge Bohemia’s (www.loungebohemia.com) Paul Tvaroh pairs this with a champagne cocktail served flat, but with a cocktail stick adorned by fizzy grapes. Crazy, huh?

Back down to the 1950s and it’s scratch ‘n’ sniff TV dinners which sustain us before a walk through an inflatable stomach that leads to the Victorian era. Here we experience a recreation of a dinner inside an Iguanodon, as hosted by Dinosaur experts at Crystal Palace in 1853. Surroundings come second to a suitably swanky duck confit prepared by David Waddington of Bistrotheque (www.bistrotheque.com)

All that’s left to be seen is the dessert and it’s Bompas and Parr who are at the helm. They’ve created a Renaissance banqueting house complete with sugar sculptures, carousels and all-round decadence. They pair a glass of Courvoisier XO with candied orange, iris jelly and ambergris posset (which is basically whale vomit – Google it). It’s surprising how well they match the flavours of the Cognac, though we’re not sure Courvoisier will be using whale vomit in their next marketing campaign...

Find out about more upcoming Courvoisier (www.courvoisier.com) and Bompas and Parr (www.jellymongers.co.uk) events on their websites.