Kate Hennessy

The waiter’s palm on the back of my head pushes me close to the pigeon, served up whole: claws, beak and all. I’m eye to eyeless socket with dinner. Tucked beneath is a pucker of pink tortellini, filled with possum and hare. It’s doused in spiced starling consommé with a scattering of nasturtium petals and a pine twig garnish.  A server approaches with a teapot of feral cat consommé. The cat course is optional – the only dish in tonight’s invasive species degustation for which we’re offered veto rights. I accept. A single slurp is poured into a spoon. Looks like broth; tastes like gravy. Now the feral cat is inside me.  I’m among 72 guests at the first in a series of feasts as part of artist Kirsha Kaechele’s exhibition, Eat the Problem, at Hobart’s Museum of New and Old Art (Mona). Photograph: Mona/Jesse Hunniford Kaechele’s 544-page book is a hybrid cookbook/artbook with contributions from Germaine Greer, Yves Klein, Tetsuya, Tim Minchin, Marina Abromovic and more. The recipes use species considered pests such as cane toad, lantana, camel and carp. “On one hand they’re a problem, on the other an abundance, if you can reframe your thinking,” says Kaechele.  Like the recipes, feasters must be monochromatic. I’m told in advance to wear “head-to-toe” green. A wardrobe dig, some loans from friends and I’m done. I wondered how the male guests are faring. Shirts would be easy, but legwear? Who among the blokes you know have pants of all shades of the colour wheel? “This exhibiti

The waiter’s palm on the back of my head pushes me close to the pigeon, served up whole: claws, beak and all. I’m eye to eyeless socket with dinner. Tucked beneath is a pucker of pink tortellini, filled with possum and hare. It’s doused in spiced starling consommé with a scattering of nasturtium petals and a pine twig garnish.  A server approaches with a teapot of feral cat consommé. The cat course is optional – the only dish in tonight’s invasive species degustation for which we’re offered veto rights. I accept. A single slurp is poured into a spoon. Looks like broth; tastes like gravy. Now the feral cat is inside me.  I’m among 72 guests at the first in a series of feasts as part of artist Kirsha Kaechele’s exhibition, Eat the Problem, at Hobart’s Museum of New and Old Art (Mona). Photograph: Mona/Jesse Hunniford Kaechele’s 544-page book is a hybrid cookbook/artbook with contributions from Germaine Greer, Yves Klein, Tetsuya, Tim Minchin, Marina Abromovic and more. The recipes use species considered pests such as cane toad, lantana, camel and carp. “On one hand they’re a problem, on the other an abundance, if you can reframe your thinking,” says Kaechele.  Like the recipes, feasters must be monochromatic. I’m told in advance to wear “head-to-toe” green. A wardrobe dig, some loans from friends and I’m done. I wondered how the male guests are faring. Shirts would be easy, but legwear? Who among the blokes you know have pants of all shades of the colour wheel? “This exhibiti