Common Folk Collections: No. 1 Dutch Renaissance Revisited - Food
"Enchant, stay beautiful and graceful, but do this, eat well. Bring the same consideration to the preparation of your food as you devote to your appearance. Let your dinner be a poem, like your dress." - Charles Pierre Monselet
The blog that launched my obsession with Dutch Renaissance is “What Katie Ate”, it was my first glimpse of the Dutch Renaissance style being revisited in a modern way. I found the way which Katie Quinn Davies would photograph simple food against dark rustic backgrounds quite enthralling. For example this photo of pomegranates stayed with me for months:
These images of food so brilliantly captured, remind me of Christmas Eve dinners where after having been out of the house all day while my parents decorated feverishly, we would come home to a Christmas tree twinkling with little red candles, the sound of German Christmas carols and a table spread with the most fabulous dinner you could possibly imagine. On these special occasions my Mom pulls out the fancy white porcelain plates with the little blue flowers to serve her fabulous German knodel and roast. I could sit for hours in that moment…
"She breathed in, and in that one; quiet moment felt herself come back together again."- The School of Essential Ingredients, Erica Bauermeister
There is such power and beauty in food. I find that many of my favorite memories are those which have taken place around a meal. If perhaps this post has inspired you to try cooking something of your own for friends and family, Katie has a quite simple recipe for Baby Minted Potatoes with Lemon Oil & Sea Salt which might be a good place to start:
"All any man can hope to do is to add his fragment to the whole." - The Art Spirit
If you would like to purchase or look more closely at the What Katie Ate book you can find it at the following locations: Anthropologie, Amazon, Barnes & Noble . Please visit again tomorrow as I will be posting on Dutch Renaissance and Interior Design.
Image One: Cheese, What Katie Ate
Image Two: Pomegranates, What Katie Ate
Image Three: Christmas Eve at the Swaty's
Image Four: Baby Minted Potatioes with Lemon Oil & Sea Salt