26/08/2026
What is it like to be a valley? A transhumanant dinner.
social eating for social change 🍉 and Valleponci invite you for an experiential, late-summer dinner exploring the many facets of Valleponci. We will use the sensations of the orchards, vineyards, forest, and gardens to make explicit our co-mutual relationship with the more-than-humans of Liguria. We will inhabit the landscape and sense our surroundings. We will taste how a valley cannot only sustain human life but how human presence might renew, revive, and nourish the valley as well. In this way, we may see ourselves as part of the valley rather than occupants of it. That we are, in fact, the valley too.
Evidence of agriculture in Liguria dates back to the Iron age. However, since the 20th century, humans have been abandoning land and practices which may have been employed for thousands of years. This has left the landscape vulnerable. Furthermore, the disappearance of Ligurian agriculture leaves traditional Ligurian foodways vulnerable.
One of the practices central to Ligurian mountain agriculture is ruminant grazing from lowlands to highlands throughout the season called transhumance. This practice preserves pastoral biodiversity and helps prevent erosion and forest fires. Humans are of course central to this passage through pasture. From this framework, we could also consider how the seasonal movement of people in and out of the valley could be supportive of a biodiverse landscape. We will consider in what ways returning to the land can be a transmission of energy and vitality from social, economic, and ecological perspectives both for humans and for the valley. Essentially, what are the mutual benefits of transHUMANance.
We encourage you to come (back) to the mountains, to recontextualize your internal world and its effect on the world around you, and to nourish and be nourished by the valley.
The evening includes an experiential menu throughout the Valleponci property as well as a wine or N/A pairing.DIETARY RESTRICTIONS?
Saturday 12 September 2026 @ 6pm
Sunday 13 September 2026 @ 6pm
photos by: Sky Taylor-Lahood
