Some paintings, such as Jan Davidszoon de Heem's "Still Life with Fruit and Ham," can whet your appetite. That's why the Uffizi Galleries have decided to launch a series of Italian-language videos, in which Florentine chefs present recipes inspired by some of the most mouthwatering artworks from their collection. Buon appetito!
This new series, titled "Uffizi da mangiare" ("Uffizi on a plate"), will be posted every Sunday on the museum's website and on Facebook. Its inaugural episode finds TV personality and restaurateur Fabio Picchi pairing the contents of Giacomo Ceruti's "Boy with fish" with a simple mayonnaise, which is "lightened with a drizzle of lemon juice and oil." This vibrant painting, completed in 1736, depicts a young boy with a basket filled with fish and a bright red spider crab.
The Uffizi Galleries have invited some of Italy's most celebrated chefs to draw inspiration from paintings by Caravaggio, Felice Casorati and Giovanna Garzoni for their new cooking lessons. They have exercised total freedom for "Uffizi da mangiare," with some cooking with the exact ingredients depicted in the artworks, and others taking more general cues from color or composition. Tuscanese butcher Dario Cecchini will serve his own version of Jacopo Chimenti's "Pantry with cask, game, meat and pottery," while Valeria Piccini of the two Michelin-starred Da Caino will present a recipe inspired by another still life of the Italian master.
"We thought that since people can't go to restaurants right now and they can't go to museums, why don't we ask a series of well-known chefs to be inspired by our paintings," Eike Schmidt, the director of the Uffizi, told The Telegraph. Although six episodes of the weekly series are already set for release, the museum is working on another dozen, most likely taking "Uffizi da mangiare" up to at least the summer.
The art of cooking
This new series marks a major development in the Uffizi Galleries' efforts to expand their digital offerings during the health crisis, as are doing most cultural institutions in Europe. According to a recent report by the Network of European Museum Organisations, a large majority of them (93%) have increased or started online services since the beginning of the pandemic. Among them is the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, which launched virtual cooking classes. At $20 for members and $25 for non-members, these cooking sessions offer attendees the opportunity to learn traditional Slavic recipes. Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh and the Cummer Museum have similarly spearheaded online cooking classes in 2020, demonstrating a real appetite of museumgoers for these new experiences.
