When we eat, we quite literally incorporate the world into ourselves. Food becomes a reminder that we are linked to everything that lives and everything that fades. Across centuries, artists have returned to food as a subject and have depicted its preparation, its presentation, and its most intimate moments of consumption. At Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, this becomes the point of departure for an exhibition that moves with care through these stages of food and its many representations. Curator Rawad Baaklini is developing, together with researcher Lieneke Hulshof and eight chefs and culinary experts, a delicious and above all poignant exploration of the emotional and political significance of food.
Co-creation process with chefs and specialists, 2025, photo by Aad Hoogendoorn
An art exhibition about food without chefs would naturally make little sense. For this reason, an inspiring co-creation process began in 2025 with eight chefs, food stylists, and culinary specialists. Each of them brings personal memories and deep knowledge of food traditions from different parts of the world.
Rotterdam based Patricio Vomend, owner of the Mexican restaurant Masa, shares the flavours of his heritage. Chef, cookbook author, and television presenter Nadia Zerouali understands better than anyone how food can connect people across seemingly immense distances. Rotterdam chef and restaurant owner Manuela Goncalves Tavares brings her tokological cooking style to the table. Cookbook author Jason Tjon Affo transforms traditional meat dishes from his youth, such as Pom, into thoughtful vegan interpretations. Wine influencer Cesar Majorana helps make wine accessible again for younger audiences. Naiara Sabandar of restaurant Oficina explores ingredients through their origins, such as tea from the Hadong province in South Korea. Tirza Krullen Kruiden, a herbalist, enriches the process with extensive knowledge in city foraging. Micheline Nahra, head chef of Murmur, introduces the flavours of her mother’s cuisine from southern Lebanon to Schiedam.
Co-creation process, 2025, photo by Aad Hoogendoorn
Guided by curator Rawad Baaklini and researcher Lieneke Hulshof, the group identified three core themes: the land, the kitchen, and the table. Every two weeks they meet in different kitchens to translate the power of food into a curatorial and artistic framework.
Through various artworks, the exhibition reveals how humans cultivate the land, prepare food in kitchens, and gather at tables under very different circumstances. Amid all these rich differences, it is the similarities that emerge with the greatest clarity.
The land, the kitchen, the table is made possible thanks to the Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap.
