Roffa’s kitchen secrets

Food isn’t only hot at festivals; in museums too, it’s an endless source of inspiration. For books (think: the historic RIJKS Museum cookbook) and exhibitions.

It will be a little while yet, but we’re already looking forward to the exhibition that the food-loving Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam has planned for early next year: The kitchen secrets of Rotterdam.

Table manners

Guest curator Abdelkader Benali and curator Alexandra Gaba-van Dongen investigated where the world’s oldest recipes originated and what they tell us about a meal from 4,000 years ago; how the tagine found its way into paintings from the Dutch Golden Age and which Andalusian philosopher inspired Rotterdam humanist Erasmus when he wrote his 1530 booklet on table manners.

How did the tagine find its way into paintings from the Dutch Golden Age?

A touch highbrow? Perhaps, but not exclusively. Because based on ancient recipes, universal kitchen secrets, culinary trends, haute cuisine and street food, practical workshops are also organised in the museum kitchen. There, you’ll learn about the origins of spices and share your own kitchen secrets with your neighbour.

Culikids

For food-loving and other kids, there’s a special educational programme with which they can take a culinary journey around the world, passing through Moroccan couscous, Ethiopian injera, Surinamese pom, French choucroute and Dutch stamppot, under the motto: ‘seeing food makes you want to eat!’. If only February were here already.

Kitchen Secrets of Rotterdam, 10 February through 30 July 2017, Wereldmuseum Rotterdam.

Text: Marjan Ippel
Image: Shutterstock