From the editor

Andrea Gyorody

The 1974 dinner party happening Soup & Tart is on a shortlist of outrageous avant-garde events I wish I'd been alive to see. Orchestrated by French artist Jean Dupuy at the alternative New York art space aptly named The Kitchen, Soup & Tart was a four-hour-long feast of bread, soup, apple tarts, and wine, punctuated by short performances from a who's who of the downtown scene: Laurie Anderson, Joan Jonas, Nam June Paik, Richard Serra, and Hannah Wilke, among many others. A New York Times critic in attendance wrote that the event "could certainly be complained about, but there were enough nice things to make one almost forget the discomfort and the longueurs." Among those nice things was the food, which was unequivocally satisfying.

As AC prepares to re-stage Soup & Tart in LA next month with a whole new cast of characters, we've gathered recipes from four AC friends—all of whom, save for Mina Stone, will be participating—to whet your appetite. If you visit AC's website, you'll get an added treat in the form of archival images from the original happening, thanks to the research prowess of Soup & Tart: Los Angeles curator Sarah Cooper. You'll find more details about the restaging in the Director's note below, but if you can't be there in person, you can at least settle into a warm bowl of soup and a buttery grilled cheese from afar.

—Andrea Gyorody