Feasting on Art

When making chipotle sweet potato mash for our Thanksgiving table, I grossly over-estimated the number of spuds needed for the recipe. Left with a very large potato in the pantry, a batch of salty, sweet and sour fries seemed the best solution. By baking the potatoes with a bit of oil, the desired crispiness is achieved sans the overbearing oil taste often found in the deep fried variety. The fries need to be left alone to toast and become slightly blistered in the hot oven.

Unknown, Still Life with Pumpkin, Book, and Sweet Potato, c.1855
daguerreotype with applied colouring, 6.3 x 5.1 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum

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The dark and dreary interior of the Potato Eaters is a stark juxtaposition to the colour and the flavor of the sweet potato mash. With Thanksgiving being such an important meal in the North American calendar, I felt it was appropriate to include a painting of a familial supper in this series. The subjects of the painting are peasants and although their entire meal consists of a platter of potatoes, there is no unhappiness apparent on their faces. This is Thanksgiving – being thankful for what one has and celebrating the food on the table. I could not think of a better way to celebrate the simple potato than to spike it with a bit of my beloved chipotle and albeit the food visually contrasts the art, the message is still there.

Vincent van Gogh, The Potato Eaters, 1885
oil on canvas, 82 x 114 Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

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