Feasting on Art

Three years ago today I posted an entry about Paul Cézanne and a recipe for cherry & nectarine clafouti. It was my very first entry on this site and it seems only fitting that it is included in Feasting on Art’s first major magazine spread. Pick up the April issue of Appetite and you can find four recipes inspired by art in the article ‘From palette to plate‘. I would also like to thank Saveur for recently naming Feasting on Art as one of their ‘sites we love.’ As a longtime reader of the publication it is an incredible honor.

Paul Cézanne, Still Life with Peppermint Bottle, c.1894
oil on canvas, 65 x 81 cm, National Gallery of Art, D.C.

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Eat This Poem is a new blog that combines food and poetry in much the same way Feasting on Art considers food and art. The website is written by Nicole Gulotta who has an MFA in poetry enabling her to marry beautiful words with delicious food. Working with her on a collaboration only felt natural and when she suggested a post investigating William Carlos Williams and Pieter Bruegel, I knew I was fated to work with her. While an undergrad I double majored in both English and History of Art and in my final semester, I did an entire course in William Carlos Williams. My major paper considered the collection of poems titled Pictures from Bruegel which is a composite representation of Bruegel’s work through the viewpoint of Williams. The poetry illustrates the way in which Williams’ eye follows the canvas and his impressions while gazing upon the works.

Pieter Bruegel, The Harvesters, 1565
oil on wood, 118 x 160.7cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art

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I first tried out this corn recipe on my Thanksgiving menu this year. The spicy corn, brightened with a squirt of lime, proved to be the perfect foil to the buttery and rich dishes I tend to make. I adapted the recipe from the food blog Orangette which recommends eating with cheddar and toast, which I did and thoroughly enjoyed. For me, the dish recalled happy memories of summers in England where I would purchase corn cobs on a stick and eat them on green and white chairs hired in London parks. The corn was sweet and the butter would drip down my chin. The sweetness of the corn is enhanced by carmelising the kernels in the pan and the chili with the lime makes for not only a wonderful side dish, but a really interesting relish to top a grilled hot dog or as a salsa in a taco. The corn will keep for up to a week in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Charles Ethan Porter, Still Life with Corn, 1885
watercolour on paper, 25.5 x 43cm, Private collection

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Chili, garlic, lime and coriander; these four flavours crop up in my recipes more often than not. When combined, they yield a dish that is flavoursome and bright, and can be applied to almost anything. This recipe for roasted pumpkin first appeared on my Christmas table a couple of years ago, and it produced so much enthusiasm that it has become a standard side-dish for many dinner parties. The recipe is obscenely easy and as a side dish, the flavours work year round and can accompany a range of mains from beef to pork and shellfish.

Only 9 more days to submit an entry to the Feasting on Art Recipe Contest. Show some love for Feasting on Art and enter if you haven’t done so already! Also, the concept for Feasting on Art is in the running for a recipe redesign contest at GOOD so please hop on over and click ‘Megan Fizell’ to vote.

François Bonvin, Still life with a Pumpkin, Peaches and a Silver Goblet on a Table Top, 1858
oil on canvas, 38 x 46cm, Private collection

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When considering the colour green, there are a number of connotations that are promptly conjured; green is the colour of money and wealth, through which one can become ‘green with jealously.’ Likewise, it is the colour of nature, growth, and life and one can have a ‘green thumb.’ It is within the secret green porcelain of China, called mi se meaning ‘mysterious colour’, that the two connotations of the colour intersect. Mi se was produced in the 9th and 10th centuries in China and was reserved for only the Emperor to see – let alone use – and the porcelain was so secretive that first verified example was not discovered until 1987. The porcelain was more valuable than gold and silver although its popularity ‘stemmed partly from the Chinese tendency to mythologise art, in order to appreciate it better (1).’ The green colour of mi se was derived from a small amount of iron in the glaze and the porcelain itself was obtained from nature. Mi se ‘comes from the mountains – from their earth and their forests. The wood was used for firing…and the clay was used for the body of the porcelain. But the two together – as wood ash and kaolin – were also used for the glaze that makes up its delicate skin and jade-like colour (2).’ This green porcelain of the earth represented the pureness of nature yet was an elusive commodity that embodied the wealth and power of the Chinese elite.

Lin Fengmian, Still Life, 1988
ink and colour on paper, 68.3 x 68.3 cm, Private collection

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