The Stories We Serve
The Scene are proud to be a part of JustFACT's Power of Food Festival this year and excited to present this special event to you all.
Have you ever argued about whose Biriyani is better? Is it Hyderabadi? Is it Karachi? Is it Sri Lankan? Even though all of South Asia has this dish the variations are truly fascinating. Join us in exploring the many regional styles of biryani across South Asia (and beyond!), and what these differences tell us about food, history and identity.
Agenda
- 6:45pm - 7:10pm: Doors open
- 7:15pm - 8:15pm: Panel
- 8:15pm - 9pm: Food break and networking
Food
Your ticket will include chai from Chai Spot and Biryani from Biryani Guys!
Our panel moderator
Mehek Ali is a multi-disciplinary Senior Creative and digital storyteller with over 4 years’ experience in content, art direction, and scriptwriting. She currently works at Amaliah, where she helps shape the platform’s creative voice across partnerships and native content - leading campaigns with brands like Sainsbury’s, CoppaFeel!, and Islamic Relief. She has built an engaged community of 86,000+ followers across TikTok and Instagram, and was named one of TikTok’s creatives to watch in 2022.
Our panel
Ayesha Erkin is an interdisciplinary creative and consultant working at the intersection of food, architecture, culture, and community. Trained as an architect and author of Date of the Day, she also co-founded Global Girls Food Club, a global community for women of colour. Her work spans collaborations with Bon Appétit, Participant Media, and Soho House, and she was recognised as a Rare with Google Leader. She now runs her studio, People, Places & Spaces, based between Texas and London.
Rida Bilgrami is a London-based writer and critic whose work spans visual culture, film, photography, and cities - with food as a recurring lens through which she explores identity, migration, and memory. Her writing has appeared in The Margins, Vittles, Catapult, Whetstone Journal, Something Curated, and more. Rida’s work often examines how food carries personal and political histories, revealing the intersections of place, heritage, and belonging through what and how we eat.
Rajen Patel is a British-born Indian chef whose love for Mexican culture and North Indian roots shapes everything he cooks. His family migrated from India to Kenya before settling in the UK, giving him a unique perspective on how South Asian food has evolved through Kenyan and Western influence. His supper clubs centre around live fire cooking - blending home-style dishes, BBQ, and smoking to create bold, third culture flavours. For Rajen, food is storytelling, therapy, and connection all at once.
Mehlaqa Khan is a London-based periodontist, writer and editor whose work sits at the intersection of food, identity, and heritage. Drawing on her Pakistani and Irish upbringing, she hosts seasonal supper clubs that spotlight seasonal produce, reinterpreted through traditions and techniques from her heritage. She was a recipe testing contributor to Maryam Jilliani’s cookbook, Pakistan. Her writings have appeared in Vittles, Chicken and Bread zine. Currently, she is the editor-in-chief of Wataan, an online and print publication exploring themes of home in its many iterations.
Location
Kingsley Hall, E3 3HJ