Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to IMAN BENET. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
IMAN, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
Plagued by the sight of all of the collective unrest I was seeing all over the world post-2020 till now, a some point it became clear to me that the root cause of our collective suffering seemed to be the growing sense of disconnection we had from the most important things around us – Our food, our environment, our community, and our own bodies.
With this in mind, I set out to create something that could provide a solution to this issue, one table at a time.
Ritual Dinners, a series of seasonal philanthropic feasts was born out of the idea that perhaps we can use something as basic and fundamental as food to become an opportunity to reconnect in a real way to what’s important.
“At Ritual, the table is the altar and our shared connection is the offering, reminding us what’s truly important.”
Together with a team of all-women chefs, the pair planned and executed a plant-based menu highlighting beets, blood oranges, and more of the season’s locally-sourced bounty from Sunrise Organic Farm, paired with cocktails from Splendid Sips. The event took place at The Nest Hollywood, whose founder Jo Little of Creative Cleansing led a guided food meditation to ground the four-course meal.
“The intention behind Ritual is to create space for our guests to reconnect back into their bodies by connecting to the land, and the community around them. Our motto is Eat Good, Do Good, and the entire experience is rooted in communal care and the desire to create positive world change through shared meals with loved ones old and new,” Imān says.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Iman, i am a Culinary Artist, Writer, and Human Rights Activist, and I’ve devoted my life to creating social action through art and storytelling.
As a proud Oakland native, and recent Los Angeles transplant, my focus has always been on reimagining a more thoughtful and generous way of existing that is equitable and regenerative for all. Through the lens of food, healing, and environmental justice I aim to effectively activate and empower local communities by sharing stories, advancing social education, and creating space for conscious conversation that leads to real change. Sometimes this happens at the dinner table, and sometimes this happens through visual storytelling on social media but the intention is always the same; create space for my viewers and listeners to reconnect back into their bodies by connecting to the land, and the community around them. Because frankly, I think it’s our only chance for survival.
“In my life, a certain kind of seeking has emerged. It’s a seeking for stories and ideas and rhythms that resist and yet also, transform.
For me, my work is not about naming the world’s many ills, but it is not about escapism, either. It’s about imagining a more beautiful, thoughtful, generous way of existing that is neither hopeless nor instrumental, but is instead thoughtful and questioning and open –
My work is about beauty and poetry, and becoming; I suppose it is spiritual in that it addresses the inner life however, the position is firmly rooted in the logical and the explicit.
My hope is that my stories will become like soul food to my audience and give them practical tools to bring them one step closer to their own inherent truth all while moving us forward towards our collective evolution, one bite at a time.”
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I created an ongoing Dinner Party series of Philanthropic Feasts entitled Ritual. The intention behind Ritual is to create space for our guests to reconnect back into their bodies by connecting to the land, and the community around them. Our motto is Eat Good, Do Good, and the entire experience is rooted in communal care and the desire to create positive world change through shared meals with loved ones old and new.
More than just a dinner party series, Ritual is rooted in the idea of nourishing and nurturing the community—not only by bringing people together through food, but by giving back. A portion of the proceeds from the event is going to Alexandria House, a non-profit providing safe housing to women and children in the Los Angeles area.
“Ritual has given us an opportunity to pour back into our communities in tangible ways that matter. With a portion of every ticket sale also going to the causes that need it most, we’ve had the opportunity to work with incredible organizations,” Imān says. “Success to us means having the opportunity to pour back into the people and causes that matter most.”
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
YES! Me and my team are huge fans of the productivity platform Milanote which really helps us bring our ideas to life. Planning a dinner party and building a business is actually quite similar in that it requires so many moving parts and things to stay aware of. For us, finding a software that can keep up and is user-friendly and creatively intuitive has been a game changer for the speed at which we can turn our ideas into reality and really create lasting change in the world.
Contact Info:
- Website: Imanbenet.com
- Instagram: @Imánbenet
- Youtube: @imanbenet
- Other: Tiktok: @Imanbenet
Image Credits
Photos by Benicia King @KingBenicia