Fun Dining with Hannah

Companion editor Jane Anderson chats to 27-year-old Hannah Kleeberg about her growing culinary empire, Herrlich Dining, and giant cheese graters

When I speak to my grandmother I tell her I’m a chef and catering host because words like culinary creative director, culinary marketing, food stylist, and content creator don’t really click with her. When it comes down to it, I’m working aesthetically with food. I’m the CEO of my own company Herrlich Dining, a culinary creative studio that builds a bridge between other design disciplines and food, helping food get the stage it never had. 

How did it all start? 

Whenever I look at my life now, I’m very surprised as I was such a shy kid. I didn’t speak to anyone but my parents. My father is a priest, so I grew up in very down-to- earth North Rhine-Westphalia household where we all had to choose a job. I said I like to cook, so I started making dinner for my parents when they came back from work and lunch for myself, and enjoyed presenting it in a really nice way. My parents saw my talent quite early on and suggested I go food shopping with them and decide what to buy so I could cook what I wanted. It was really something I cherish because they taught me responsibility and community.  

 

After a degree in politics, a heartbreak, and some time in therapy, I returned to what I love – cooking! I posted my recipes on Instagram and very early on I realised there aren’t many people who create sceneries around their recipes, or who push the boundaries of hosting and gathering around for food. So I began to create it all. I think of a theme. I’ll do the table styling, the menu cards and so on. My first client was a 50-year-old venture capitalist from London who loved my team’s full-on veggie menu, especially the yellow beet with pickled jalapeno! 

Who are your inspirations? 

Martha Stewart was one of the first women within the food industry who wasn’t ashamed of being female, and consequently did something very feminist. She created a whole universe around fun and food. Her first cookbook from 1982 entitled  Entertaining has now been republished. Back then it was still groundbreaking to think about meals beyond making sure everyone is fed, but also about ensuring everyone has a great time and an escape from reality. Martha built an empire from this concept. One of my favourite chapters is about creating a soup party with 10 different soups styled on a table. All her ideas are about how to get people you love together at one table. In terms of food style, my biggest inspiration is Laila Gohar, the Egypt-born, New York -based food stylist who celebrates and reflects her roots, reality  and art in the food she creates.  

Outside of the food world I’m inspired by surrealist artists including René Magritte and how he translate ingredients and dreams into art. Sometimes when I think about a concept I try to remember my dreams and aspects of my subconscious. 

Last autumn I was involved with the creative direction of a TV commercial for Google Pixel, working with creative agency Kemmler Kemmler. I also starred in the commercial which was inspired by Wes Anderson movies. We used gigantic props including an oversized cheese wheel which was fake so we didn’t waste food. I roll it up an icy hill in the snow and the metaphor is the tale of Sisyphus rolling the boulder up the mountain. We also had gigantic cheese grater as tall as me, which I carried around over my shoulder. I could hear my grandma saying, but why? And the answer is because it’s playful and fun!  

I’m unconventional. I really like to play and push boundaries. When you come to a dinner of mine you will never find five different cutleries for five different courses. I think that’s an excluding ceremony that assumes everyone at the table knows which fork to take. Herrlich Dining is not super elevated fine dining. We came up with the slogan ‘fun dining’ (not fine dining’) because we make sure everyone feels included and forgets their concerns for a while. We incorporate many childish elements – being naïve in the best way possible. Kids like a huge spoon or a gigantic cherry. Playing with dimensions and concepts is something that speaks to my inner child and makes me feel excited. We forget how big the impact of accessing your inner child is. A gigantic cake is something we always wanted to see when we were younger. It’s like the whole dreamworld in cartoons where everything is enormous and makes funny noises. Making a bag out of salad for example always sparks a reaction.

I always wanted to create a concept cookbook with editorials and photography - more like a design book that people are proud to have on their table. I love the Parisian style or old-school Italian way of dining away from the big cities where we seek community such as supper clubs at home. Food has an emotional healing power as well as physical. Cooking for one another, and nourishing yourself, is a way to bring happiness and is a great act of selfcare. I wanted to bring that out in the book.  

Herrlich Hosting is shaped around four different theatre plays in four different countries. We integrate food art into the photography and then we have recipes coming from each play – each one course at one time of the day. We begin in Scotland in the early morning with a little theatre play on the dream landscapes, and the anarchic feeling of hosting a brunch in pyjamas. The book then travels to Greece with a play about a runaway bride inspired by the Mamma Mia movies. The recipes include smaller sharing dishes for big events. We then travel to Albania for a road trip inspired by the 2000s and running away from home, being with your friends and feeling free! These are recipes you could make anywhere. Main dishes that don’t need a lot. And we conclud in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany where I grew up, where it’s all about desserts, feeling cosy and not running away from who you are or the simple background you grew up with. 

At the end of the book we have menu guides for very different occasions that combine all those chapters together – if you want to host very fancy, very wholesome, romantic or festive! Timetables, shopping lists, how to not get caught up in time and table styling are all covered. ‘Anywhere, anyone, anytime’ is our approach…breaking the whole thing down into having a good time with good people around you. You control the recipes, the food and the hosting, it doesn’t control you. It doesn’t have to be perfect or stressful. The book is designed to be a comfort.  

 

More from Hannah: @herrlich.dining