Kicking off our one-week culinary extravaganza, redheaded restaurateur Margot Henderson prepares an orange-hued feast in Kim Gehrig’s dramatic short, narrated by actress, model and fellow ginger Lily Cole. “I feel my coloring has formed part of my character,” says the spirited Henderson, co-founder of the British culinary gem Rochelle Canteen, housed in a converted school bicycle shed in east London. “I wonder when my hair fades as the grey comes if you will see me sitting quietly in a corner?” Having risen to international prominence alongside husband
Fergus Henderson of St. John’s restaurant and “nose-to-tail eating” fame, Margot hosted a luncheon during Frieze London 2012, exclusively for the art crowd’s ruddy-haired members. “People in the past have referred to my gingerness as ‘freaky’, so this seemed like an opportunity to celebrate the gorgeousness and oddity of the color.” Here Henderson selected Spaghetti Bottarga as the highlight of her autumnal menu, a creation featured in her latest book, You’re All Invited. The Italian dish uses dried mullet’s roe, the so-called “gold of the ocean,” alongside dazzling, phosphorescent sea urchins, which the chef washes down with a classic Negroni as she wickedly watches her fantasy banquet table erupt into flames.STATS FROM ON SET
Duration of shoot
One full day.
Number of pyromaniacs keeping the set alight
Total of five: three for the flames, one for making ash and one for burning tissues .
Fuel used
Hundreds of bottles of turpentine and lighter fluid .
Safety precautions
Five fire extinguishers and a pile of wet towels .
Number of ginger people on shoot
Eight (including Margot’s son, Hector) .
Number of Negronis drunk by Margot
That would be telling…
Number of Negronis drunk by the crew
Jugs, not glasses.