Thanksgiving special edition secret dinner
Long before Thanksgiving was a statutory holiday, the arrival of autumn was marked by harvest festivals — gatherings that mixed gratitude, food, and ceremony. Compare to USA, these were almost pagan moments to honour the land: Thanking to the year’s hervest, family here.
In Canada, Thanksgiving took root in 1879, formalizing what early settlers and Indigenous communities were already doing — marking the close of the harvest and giving thanks.
This October, we return to that spirit with a special edition of Mæst Food’s Secret Dinner — a family-style feast that feels like an autumn ritual.
A Shared Table, A Seasonal Rite
For this dinner, we trade our usual plated tasting menu for a heartier, more communal format — 5 courses, ten elements, designed to be passed and shared.
The evening begins with 3 snacks — small, briny offerings that wake the appetite with modern Japanese comfort snack twist.
Then comes a carrot and beets soup with sourcream, served with Japanese milk bread and house-made cultured “butter.”
At the centre of the table: umami-roasted stuffed squash with truffle, lentils, pine nuts, and coffee-shoyu gravy, sided with miso-roasted Brussels sprouts, chanterelles, fermented red currants, and house pickles. Dessert closes the meal with a roasted Japanese pear with fig leaf cream foam, finished with Petit four, expecting Nama chocolate and hawthorn pate de fruits, a sweet punctuation to the evening.
Designed with Intention
This menu is an homage to the harvest — focussing on local farms, wild ingredients, and the slow cooking, fermentation and other techniques. Its structure balances abundance with restraint, bringing a hint of Japanese clarity to a rustic Canadian table.
With curated vintage tableware, creating a table setting that feels ceremonial — an act of gathering to share food as the days grow shorter.
A Complete Evening
Your ticket includes one paired drink — natural wine or a house-crafted non-alcoholic option — along with tax and gratuity, so there’s nothing to calculate at the end. Just sit, savour, and celebrate the season.
Event Details
Saturday, October 11th
5:00 PM or 7:30 PM
Dissect Location, near Downtown Vancouver
Seats are extremely limited.
Why We Gather
In a world where plant-based dining is often casual, this dinner is something different — a chance to mark the season with intention, to honour the harvest, and to share a table in good company.
This is not just a dinner — it’s an autumn ritual.
