«Stay Hungry»: The Moscow social circle offering a feast for the mind and soul

An interview with Anna Bichevskaya, a co-founder of the Moscow-based closed club Stay Hungry which aims to give people new ideas and experiences by meeting face-to face over good food. The supper club has grown and evolved considerably since its inception back in 2013.

The supper club on Bolshaya Nikitskaya

Photo credits: Mark Boraski and Artem Byurukov (Марк Боярский, Артем Бирюков)

Preslava Fentham-Fletcher [Pushkin House]: Stay Hungry started in 2013 as a closed club for people to meet over a meal and network. These dinners took place in an apartment near Bolshaya Nikitskaya in central Moscow. Why did you decide to launch it and how did you select and invite the participants?

Anna Bichevskaya: In 2013, Moscow was a different city. It lacked nice and friendly places to eat and meet. We decided to start our own club and place for interesting people to get together from a secret location, which was an apartment in the historical street Bolshaya Nikitskaya. The secrecy was not fully intentional, it was to do with testing the concept among friends and avoiding the chaotic Moscow scene. Word of mouth and the closed group we had on Facebook as a form of face control worked; our audience grew fast beyond the initial friends and acquaintances. The media picked up on our existence and what followed was an avalanche of enquiries. It seemed that we had stumbled upon something people desperately needed- the need to meet like-minded people, to interact with strangers and have the opportunity to leave their comfort zone. The initially unknown elements like the address, menu, chef, and other guests, attracted people who were ready to experiment and communicate openly with people they had never met before. The guests who came to our dinners were happy and engaged because despite being from different backgrounds, they shared a similar mindset.

Preslava: You say that food is the glue of society. Is this true and how does it work?

Anna: Yes, I still find that food is the glue of society. On some primitive level, while sharing a meal, we are not likely to attack one another. While eating together people share experiences and become closer. In the right hands, food and drink can become a source of transformation for one’s state of mind. The table with the atmosphere resembling a symbolic ‘last supper’ is a process where every participant plays a part. The menu always being unknown meant that our guests were always surprised, often trying certain dishes for the first time.

Preslava: What did the participants gain from these gatherings?

Anna: At our events people could open their horizons and create a new circle of friends. They could discuss endless topics with strangers, find a like-minded person, discover a new partner for their business or in life, strike up a new friendship or identify a fellow traveller. We never had an objective for our meetings. The purpose was never to exchange business cards or matchmaking, and somehow the magic always happened. People got closer by discovering similarities and common interests. There was only one aim: to create an environment which brought active, open and curious people together. We never knew what happened beyond our gatherings, but our reputation grew and with the trust we built, we kept attracting remarkably interesting and progressive people. We created a subculture which was in effect a new social circle.

Preslava: You have grown over the past seven years, now launching Stay Hungry 2, which sees you holding your culinary events in different restaurants. Is this better and why?

Anna: Two and half years ago we stopped hosting the independent parties and social dinners in the apartment because we felt that the format of independent festivals has exhausted itself for us and we did not want it to cause us to slowly die out. (We had lost interest in this format as it was becoming more popular.) Moscow was changing fast and sitting in the same apartment was becoming boring. The boom of new cafes and restaurants in the city meant that we could explore and test new places with our audience. In a sense, we switched to a format that is easier for ourselves, more interesting for guests and more useful for restaurants and cafes. We focused more on the communication by introducing ice breaking cards focused on a plethora of themes. This new environment gave people the chance to talk about a range of topics and thus understand themselves, others, and the world we live in a bit better. We discuss anything, from the future, address philosophical and social subjects, talk about art, relationships, the meaning of success, burnout and what human values are. By debating these, we help people be more empathetic and understanding of other points of view.

Preslava: You have become a consultancy and worked with Moscow’s Danilovsky Food Market. Tell us, what have you helped with?

Anna: We worked with Danilovsky food market, helping to create a new concept, invited the first participants and in some way positioned it for a more fashionable crowd. Currently, there is a long waiting list with those wanting to get involved in food court projects. But, five years ago, we had to convince participants and others that there was something to do at the market. We have played a major part in building new relationships between the Moscow residents and the city. We at Stay Hungry are enormously proud of this. Many food courts today in my view lack a vision and an edge, we do not see enough projects that focus less on the commercial gain and put emphasis on the human experience.

Preslava: What do you miss from the early days of being a small closed club in that famous apartment on Bolshaya Nikitskaya?

Anna: I do not miss our apartment on Bolshaya Nikitiskaya. The first days were super cool, but we and the world are developing, and it is fantastic that the project is also not standing still. Currently, I am at the stage of finalising the project and I want to develop other formats that are interesting to me. I really want to develop both the audience of the project and the formats in which we work, to create a product that is needed by our constantly changing and developing audience. Something which allows me and them to be in a phase of constant development and at the same time, in a very friendly and supportive environment.

We have recently launched two collaborations, one project named ‘Sounds Like a Plan’ (Slap.Community) is an event platform we created together with the insight agency Signal. Here, we help people adapt to the ever-changing times by applying tools from the business, creative and trend-working industries. The second project Recreation.ru (Рекреация) is a joint project with the Rozetka community of educators and the MADS creative school - the Non-Conference for Creative Industries. The project was created to develop interdisciplinary cooperation, based on brainstorming and exchange of experience and knowledge.

Preslava: Post Covid-19, do you still think that the face-to-face format is best?

Anna: The situation with COVID-19 showed us how important offline communication is. Online communication can indeed be useful for education and work, but it is not sufficient when it comes to offering support, developing relationships or giving love and care. Online has no atmosphere where people can freely exchange experiences or read each other’s body language and we are in fact tired of online. I think we can solve many problems online but communication for the purpose of pleasure, friendship, culture exchange and social development should remain offline.

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Anna Bichevskaya is a co-founder of the Stay Hungry project and creative producer of the Martini Time festival. She has also participated in the rebranding of Russian Railways, worked with the Comedy Club and taken part in the relaunches of Gorky Park and Danilovsky Market. Anna created the iknow.travel app, for independent travellers and Friendly Moscow, a friendly travel guide about Moscow.

Follow Anna on Instagram