Artist by day, host by night – meet Antonia Clare in London! As well as the big smoke, she has also lived in the Swiss mountains and on a Greek island, so has an exciting traveling background. When she is looking for inspiration, she visits the local market, where the textures, colours and smells never cease to amaze her!

Hello Antonia Clare! Please tell us, what inspired you to start meal sharing?

Hello, thank you for having me. Yes, sure! In my previous job, I used to go to people’s homes, travel the world and was pretty much living on a plane – I was burnt out and needed a change! So, I retired, bought a flat and now create art installations using mostly food matter, which enables me to create anything.

I discovered Airbnb in 2011 and have since been a successful host with 98% occupancy all year round. So, I think the whole home sharing concept is just me: I love its caring-sharing nature! And since then, I’ve moved onto sharing food.

Wow, that sounds very interesting! What was your job before you started working in the sharing economy?

Funnily enough, I was trained as a professional chef working in Michelin restaurants and then worked privately for European royals, aristocrats, ambassadors, CEOs and celebrities for 10 years, 18 hours per day. You can probably see why I was so burned out!

Yes, definitely! So, you mentioned you were a professional chef. How would you describe your personal culinary style now?

It’s actually refreshingly simple. I have a thought process called “Data Expressionism”: It means the guest is the key to the dish! To design something for a group or an individual, it simply takes a few emails to get to know them and then ‘voila!’ I have created their ideal dishes.

That is truly amazing! Who’d be the perfect guest you’d love to welcome to your table?

Oooh…A celiac, raw foodist, paraplegic or a group booking of 6 would push my creative possibility buttons to high alert!

Talk about challenging yourself, we love it! If you had to choose, what would your last meal be?

Ham and eggs.

Very simple considering you’re a professional chef, how suprising!

Well when it’s cooked right, anything simple can taste amazing!

We couldn’t agree more! As you’re an avid traveler and not a stranger to moving around, which travel tips would you like to share with us?

Travel light! Rather than packing my belongings, I post them to wherever I am going and buy the rest when I arrive. It’s convenient because all hotels will post your box back. Also, travel for longer: 5 months every 5 years is better than 2 weeks a year!

So helpful, thank you! If your traveling took you to a deserted island, which 3 items would you take with you?

A tent, a box of food, and a flint and tinder box: I don’t want to starve or get wet when I sleep and we all need fire!

Very practical, I like it! With the travels, you must have eaten your fair share of exotic foods. What is your fondest meal-related memory?

Eating fresh sea urchins on surf boards, bobbing on the waves of a bay with a group of Greeks. We had a bag of lemons to squeeze over the urchins and it was a warm October evening while watching the sunset. 

Oh wow, that certainly paints an idyllic picture. I noticed your fondest memory was sharing food too, what does Social Eating mean to you?

The world becoming a smaller place.

Again, we couldn’t agree more! Here at Eatwith, we don’t love anything more than bringing people together over great authentic food.

Thank you, Antonia Clare, for chatting with us! If you want to know more about this amazing woman, make sure to drop by her place next time you visit London and you can book one of her food experiences here!