Fast food: Secret Restaurant where food must be eaten before it disappears

Guests at Dornberger’s restaurant won’t have the chance to stop and photograph their food as it won’t be around to snap if they wait too long. Food is served on an industrial-style conveyor belt connecting the underground kitchen to the waiting diners upstairs. If guests don’t collect their meal before the end then it is lost for ever, falling off the conveyor belt.

The concept is a reaction to the ‘sportification’ of food – shown by the rise of competitive cooking shows such as MasterChef, as well the culture of one-upmanship among foodies who incessantly Instagram their most photogenic meals.

Dornberger often uses performances as a chef to activate the pieces. In the past he has made guests, whom he refers to as participants, drive, hike and stoop to receive their food.

Secret Restaurant is one of three dozen events to take place in September and October 2014 at Gamble House as part of AxS Festival 2014, a fortnight of events in Pasadena.

For more on innovative dining experiences in Los Angeles, read our Innovate on Wolvesmouth, and to find out more about the backlash against food for Instagram’s sake, read our Insta-real microtrend.