Dinner Is Served. 
A Culinary Trip around the World

Europe’s aristocratic families used to indulge in luxurious banquets with exquisite table accessories to demonstrate their power and extravagantly while away their time. Well into the 18th century, it was not unusual for people to bring their own cutlery – quite often peculiar, valuable one-of-a-kind pieces. In the Baroque period, matching dinner services came into vogue and finally, in the wake of industrialisation, became mass-produced commodities.

Trading with faraway countries, conquests and migration processes augmented people’s menus with exotic fruit and spices, and contributed to a change in customs and traditions. Juxtaposing ethnographic treasures and exquisite historical examples of the goldsmith’s art with imaginatively designed contemporary dining utensils and everyday objects, the exhibition is themed around dining cultures around the globe. After all, the way to culture is also through the stomach.

The exhibition has been devised and curated by Katja Poljanac under the overall supervision of Friederike Zobel, the Museum’s director. As co-curators, Isabel Schmidt-Mappes and the ethnologist Dr. Andreas Volz were involved as well.

Admission € 10, reduced price € 8.50, combined (permanent & special exhibition) ticket € 12,50

Lenders
Badisches Landesmuseum, Bröhan-Museum, Deutsches Klingenmuseum Solingen, Ethnologisches Museum Berlin, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst, GRASSI Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig, Historisches Museum der Pfalz, Jüdisches Museum Berlin, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien/Kunstkammer, Linden-Museum Stuttgart, Museum Fünf Kontinente München, Museum für Asiatische Kunst Berlin, Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst Köln, Museum Natur und Mensch Freiburg, Museum der Universität Tübingen, Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum, Silberkammer der Hofburg Wien, Landesforstverwaltung Baden-Württemberg/Forstdirektion Freiburg, Galerie Meyer Paris, Schwarzmüllerglas, Berufskolleg der Goldschmiedeschule Pforzheim, David Bielander, Elisabeth Heine, Yasukata Okamura, Katja Sondermann, private lenders

Opening hours: Tue–Sun and holidays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (except for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve).