The exhibition Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting, which will be opened to visitors on December 17 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, explores Islamic art through culinary culture.
Did you know that the famous Swedish meatballs are a dish that came to Swedish cuisine from the Ottoman Empire? Culinary culture and the impact of food on societies are perhaps more important than we think in human history. Linda Komaroff, curator of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, says that one way to get closer to different cultures and break prejudices is through kitchens. She even adds that our first encounter with another culture, before disciplines such as art, literature or history, is often through the cuisine of that culture. Karamoff, who examines all these issues related to the kitchen and more with the exhibition Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting, opens a door to Islamic art through the kitchen.
Prepared with 250 works from 30 different collections, Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting reflects the Islamic art world through culinary relations. Spanning a wide geography and time period, the exhibition includes Indian dinnerware covered with gold, emeralds and rubies from the late 17th century, to drawing room installations from 18th century Damascus. In addition to tableware and installations, recipes from different regions of the Islamic geography are also part of the exhibition.
Dining with the Sultan follows the change of Islamic culinary culture over the centuries; Culinary culture is examined from different perspectives with sections such as Dressing for Dinner, Dining Across Cultures: China, Islamic Lands, and Italy and Coffee Culture. The exhibition also reveals information about the origins of the dishes: Komaroff also states that Swedish meatballs are a dish from the Ottoman Empire.
The exhibition, curated by Linda Komaroff, will open to visitors on December 17 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and will continue until August 4.
