Food is more than simply the act of eating. It holds memory and comfort, supports rituals, and tells stories of migration, class, struggle, and care. Food is one of the first ways we form relationships with others and it weaves us into everything that lives and fades. Through food and eating, we take the world into ourselves.
In the exhibition As Necessary as Bread at Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, the emotional, social, and political meanings of food are brought to the front. With works from historical artists such as Pieter Bruegel and Chaïm Soutine alongside contemporary makers including Martha Rosler, Zhanna Kadyrova, Astrid von Nimwegen, Stephanie Saadeh, Walid Raad and Mika Rottenberg, visitors experience how food is something that lives and moves through us, where personal memory meets collective history.
Still-life, photo Meinke ten Have, 2026
Co-creation with chefs and experts
Yet the exhibition did not begin with only artworks. It began in kitchens, around tables, and through conversations. Guided by curator Rawad Baaklini and associate research curator Lieneke Hulshof, eight chefs, each with different cultural and professional backgrounds, came together to share their knowledge and memories: Patricio Vomend (owner of Restaurant Masa, Rotterdam), Nadia Zerouali (chef and television personality), Manuela Gonçalves Tavares (chef at Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam), Cesar Majorana (wine influencer), Micheline Nahra (Chef and food designer), Thirza Prak (botanical expert and forager), Naiara Sabandar (chef at Restaurant Oficina), and Jason Tjon Affo (cookbook author).
They spoke about bread that was baked with care each day and shared with new neighbours. About a grandmother’s healing soup whenever you felt unwell. About sweets secretly hidden beneath the bed. About the smell of strawberries that recalls seasonal farm work. About the nostalgia of fresh milk, straight from the farm. About empanadas whose aroma carries you back to childhood. It is precisely these kinds of memories that inspire them to work in kitchens and restaurants. What they experienced as children continues to travel with them through their work in hospitality and food culture. During the different sessions, the group explored together what a contemporary exhibition about food and food cultures in the Netherlands could look like, feel like, smell like, and taste like.
The group of chefs, food-experts and the two curators, photo Meinke ten Have, 2026
Nadia Zerouali, chef and television personality: “The bread my mother made turned her into the heart of our Dutch neighbourhood. Without speaking the language, she connected neighbours through the scent of her warm loaves.”
Micheline Nahra, chef and food designer: “Food is powerful: it is a weapon, an instrument. Let us keep that power and meaning alive within the museum.”
Nadia Zerouali, photo Meinke ten Have, 2026
Micheline Nahra, foto Meinke ten Have, 2026
About the exhibition
That food gives rise to heartwarming stories is beyond doubt. The question is how such stories can be told within an exhibition, how they move through artworks, and how they reshape the way historical works are seen and understood.
The exhibition brings together works that reveal the emotional power of food as well as the relationships between people, animals, and what nourishes them. It unfolds across three chapters:
The first chapter, Land, focuses on the origins of ingredients and on the farmers and fishermen who live by the rhythms of soil, sea, and season.
The second chapter, Kitchen, turns to the preparation of food and to those who cook, whether in domestic or industrial spaces.
The final chapter, Table, revolves around manners, rituals, styles of eating, and who is present around the table. It also reflects on what we digest; not only physically, but intellectually and emotionally.
At its core, the exhibition is about the encounters between ingredients and the people who grow, prepare, serve, and eat them. Food carries far more than nourishment alone. It holds memory, care, labour, attention, and togetherness. Ultimately, food speaks to who we are as human beings.
As Necessary As Bread – the land, the kitchen, the table is made possible thanks to the Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap.
