Kinfolk. An indie, back to basics, earthy, natural, simple living magazine that highlights the small joys in life: fresh organic juice – beachside cookouts – gatherings with friends.

Kinfolk is all about sharing, living, eating, talking, discussing. Did you know they began as communities of ‘gatherings’: long table meals held across a number of different countries around the world? This spawned the magazine, and they’ve continued the gatherings – themed around their upcoming issues. It is always a small gathering, and they get local bakers, bloggers, designers, planners, winemakers etc involved in each meal. Each gathering happens around the same time, all around the world, around the same theme – but each one is so unique and special and different.

A few months after I arrived in London, Kinfolk announced their summer issue – and the corresponding gathering. This time, it was called L’Esprit de la Mer (The Spirit of the Sea), and it was themed around sun, water, salt.

We all sat down to a shared meal. There’s something wonderful about sitting down as a family with a group of like-minded strangers.

We all came from different places – chefs, photographers, journalists, architects. We passed down bowls of salads, plates of salt-crusted fish and dished up almond milk chocolate caramel tart slices for strangers who had become friends.

Lani Kingston, the Founder of Four Seasons of Food, is a food and coffee industry veteran with four bestselling books under her belt. Her first book, How To Make Coffee: The Science Behind the Bean is now published in 13 languages and is a textbook at barista academies around the world. Born in Australia, she has lived in London, New York, and Singapore – and now resides in Portland, Oregon, where she is a professor of anthropology at Portland State University teaching coffee history. She is also the Conference and Education Manager at Coffee Fest, the premier specialty coffee industry trade show held four times a year in different cities across the United States.

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