Nothing is arguably more communal and relatable than dining. Food has played a prominent role in every culture for thousands of years. This concept is at the heart of “The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic Word", an exhibit at The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), exploring and celebrating Islamic art through the lens of food and culinary culture.
The exhibit, which opens Sunday, features nearly 230 works from 30 public and private collections from across the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East. Attendees walk through many time periods. It covers food and objects from the Middle East, Egypt, Central, South, and East Asia, and Europe — highlighting connections between art and cuisine while demonstrating how food transcends cultures, backgrounds, and borders.
“There is really, really a big range of work in this show geographically, culturally, and historically speaking,” says Katherine Kasdorf, DIA Associate Curator of Arts of Asia and the Islamic World.
"But they are all united by this theme of food and dining and encouraging us to think about culture and personal connections we make through practices and objects related to food and dining."
“This is really the first major Islamic exhibition that thinks about the functionality of these objects being for food and looks at paintings representing scenes of dining and food preparation,” Kasdorf says.
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The British Library"Babur Enjoying a Meal at the South Madrasa (College) in 1506".“The Art of Dining” was originally organized and displayed by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and originally titled, “Dining With The Sultan: The Fine Art Of Feasting.” After the DIA expressed interest in bringing the exhibit to Detroit, organizers took a multi-layered think tank approach to curation and made a few changes based on that feedback.
“We did a lot of community engagement,” Kasdorf says. “We found that people really loved the concept but the title wasn’t resonating with them for a variety of reasons. We did online surveys, interviews with visitors in the galleries, telephone interviews, a town hall meeting at the Arab American National Museum.”
This exhibition challenges the viewer to not just look at the objects as food utensils and storage containers, but as art. A lot of what attendees think of Islamic art were made as functional objects, but they're also full of artistic details because so much attention and expertise was devoted to making them.
“We have this jade spoon inlay with jewels with its hand carved in the shape of a bird's head,” Kasdorf says. “That was a functional spoon that somebody used but it's a precious work of art as well.”
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Detroit Institute of Arts"Rooster-Header Ewer", Circa 1200. There are decorative 1,000-year-old water vessels (pitchers) which were used to gather water from a canal in Bagdad and glazed jars used to store syrup, lettuce, and jelly.
“All the ceramics, everything was made by hand,” says Kasdorf. "They didn’t have the same kind of thermometers to tell them how hot their kiln was. They developed their own amazing glazes, so a lot of these kinds of artifacts are from materials that maybe we take a little bit for granted today. It was much more involved in producing them back then."
The show is well-rounded and provides a full scope of historic dining through visual works representing scenes of feasting and dining preparation and historical cookbooks with recipes that can still be used today. There are ancient musical instruments that were commonly played for entertainment during luxurious meals. One of the most compelling displays is a row of five beautiful garments worn for special occasions, banquets, and formal dinners.
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Kahn Santori Davison
A section focused on the sufra — a cloth or low table on which food is served — explores the dining experience, with an interactive sufra inviting visitors to a digitally presented six-course meal based on historical recipes from throughout the Islamic world. The recipes have been modified for today’s cooks by chef Najmieh Batmanglij, a cookbook author and leading authority on Persian cuisine. Although the exhibition focused on the Islamic world, it recognizes that everyone within these sectors did not practice Islam but all played a role culturally.
“Each of these regions are very diverse in terms of religious communities, languages, and culture. It's not monolithic Muslim; there are Christians, Jewish people, Sikhs, Zoroastrianism, Hindus, depending on what regions of the Islamic world you're in,” adds Kasdorf.
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Kahn Santori Davison
At the end of the exhibit is a contemporary multimedia installation by Iraqi-born artist Sadik Kwaish Alfraji titled, “A Thread of Light Between My Mother’s Fingers and Heaven”. The work is rooted in the artist’s memories of his mother, her homemade bread, and family meals in Baghdad. The work evokes feelings of comfort, love, and nostalgia.
“It's a large-scale animation together with preparatory drawings and some framed photographs,” says Kasdorf.
To add some real-time flavor to the presentation the DIA has collaborated with Masri Sweets to offer desserts at its Kresge Court and Hashems’ Turkish coffee will be available at the gift shop. The Cafe DIA has also incorporated Middle Eastern specialties at its salad bar and innovation station.
“They plan on offering different menu items related to the exhibition,” says Kasdorf.
Currently Michigan has the highest percentage and number of Arab Americans at 211,405 and 2.1% with 110,000 residing in Dearborn. A 2023 U.S. Census Bureau reported that people of Middle Eastern or North African descent make up the
majority of Dearborn’s population 55%.
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Kahn Santori DavisonDIA director Salvador Salort-Pons
“This exhibition has given us in the museum the opportunity to grow closer to the Arab American communities,” DIA director Salvador Salort-Pons told a crowd at the exhibit's private viewing.
“I think many people from those communities will find some resonance,” says Kasdorf. "I hope they like how we presented the exhibition. There's such a diversity of work in this exhibition connected to Arab, Persian, Turkish, south Asian regions and cultures so there's a lot of different potential points of resonance with our really diverse communities here in metro Detroit
The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic World is free with museum admission, which is always free for residents of Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne counties.
It runs from September 22, 2024 to January 5, 2025, at The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA):
Tuesday-Thursday - 9:00 am‒4:00 pm
Friday - 9:00 am‒9:00 pm
Saturday-Sunday - 10:00 am‒5:00 pm
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Kahn Santori Davison