[HN Gopher] Piled High: 17th-Century Dutch Banquet Scenes
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Piled High: 17th-Century Dutch Banquet Scenes
        
       Author : prismatic
       Score  : 19 points
       Date   : 2025-01-26 17:41 UTC (4 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (publicdomainreview.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (publicdomainreview.org)
        
       | trgn wrote:
       | Highly recommend to go see these sorts of paintings in a city
       | palace like https://www.snijdersrockoxhuis.be/en/, subject matter
       | and setting complement each other so beautifully.
        
       | kaon_ wrote:
       | Interesting read. Maybe a replica, high-quality poster or glass
       | print would be a cool ornament in the kitchen or dining room :)
        
         | neeleshs wrote:
         | Or a tapestry! (I have one in our dining room)
        
       | yostrovs wrote:
       | I noticed that strangely many Dutch still life scenes include
       | lemons whose skin has been partially peeled and made to hang from
       | the side of the table. Does this have more meaning than just
       | showing off access to lemons and ability to draw the shape with
       | the peel?
        
         | quuxly wrote:
         | I had the same question, after seeing one of my great uncle's
         | paintings with a peeled lemon motif. There's a good Reddit
         | comment here that goes into a lot of detail:
         | 
         | https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/nz47rz/still...
        
         | Galatians4_16 wrote:
         | Could they have been used to degrease hands durning the meal?
        
       | csswizardry wrote:
       | I'm on-site with a client in The Hague this week--the food and
       | drink in this city is phenomenal, so these paintings definitely
       | still ring true for me at least.
        
         | kaaskop wrote:
         | Interesting, I live in NL now and the food is definitely one of
         | my least favorite things here compared to other places I've
         | lived.
         | 
         | May I ask what specifically gave you that impression? Any spots
         | or dishes in particular?
        
         | yurishimo wrote:
         | From my experience after moving here, the Dutch have three
         | types of restaurants.
         | 
         | 1. Cheap snack food hole in the walls that sometimes sell pizza
         | too. Doner/kebab/fries etc. These are family owned and operated
         | and generally just hanging on by a thread financially and it
         | shows.
         | 
         | 2. Slightly upscale bistros that are only open for lunch-5pm or
         | dinner-10pm. The prices are such that they can support wait
         | staff and skilled cooks but fall short of fine dining. Popular
         | with middle class folks for a date night. Expect nicer
         | serviceware and to spend EUR100 for two people after 1 drink
         | each and dessert.
         | 
         | 3. Fine dining with all the bells and whistles.
         | 
         | As a tourist, you often get lured into #2. If you're coming
         | from the US, it can seem quite fancy when you compare it to
         | chains like Chilis and Olive Garden but the trends become very
         | easy to spot after you see it enough times.
         | 
         | But what's nice about #2 is that the staff do actually somewhat
         | give a shit about their jobs and make an effort to provide an
         | atmosphere that is inviting (gezelligheid). This also extends
         | to the food which is artfully plated, even if the ingredients
         | aren't anything special.
         | 
         | Enjoy your trip!
        
         | Etheryte wrote:
         | As someone who's lived in the Netherlands for quite a long
         | while, this is downright funny to read. No offense to the
         | Dutch, but food is the last thing they're good at and they're
         | pretty infamous for its blandness. Pretty much every good meal
         | you can find in the Netherlands is either French, Indonesian,
         | or etc. That said, the KLM sandwich is a very fine thing.
        
           | wbl wrote:
           | That's primarily an 19th century event and its results, with
           | the emphasis on economizing.
        
       | Yeul wrote:
       | The Netherlands was rather unique back then for not having any
       | starvation or food riots. Lots of dairy products and fish.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2025-01-30 23:02 UTC)