UK
While travelling this summer with a group to discover the unique flavours of Denmark and Finland on a gastrotrip led by the Top chef Simon Lau Cederholm (AND my uncle), I was enchanted by the vegetable vases and ornaments I came across.
At the Lumskebugten, fine dining restaurant that has the signature of chef Erwin Lauterbach, a detail that caught my eye was a gorgeous beef tomato floating on water in a large glass vase on the centre of one of tables replacing the typical flower ornament.
I couldn’t help thinking that that was actually a great idea!
Maybe I’m a bit outdated. Maybe I just hadn’t noticed before. But all this veggies started to pop up as ornaments.
For a dinner during that trip planned especially for us in an island in Sweden, the table was full of artichokes, wildflowers and small bushes in beautiful vintage vases. Astonishing.
In Belgium, I found cabbage flowers between traditional at the daily supermarket. Voilá! If I’m not mistaken, you can find them sometimes in England too.
Not so new this thing with veggie vases
Alright, silly me. Fruits, vegetables are mixed up since the ancient times. The Greeks made garland and wreaths with plant materials for specific occasions. And of course fruits and vegetables were part of the religious offerings.
Then comes the Renaissance, expressing the appreciation for garlands of flowers, fruits and vegetables in its paintings from northern Italian masters such as Andrea Mantegna and Carlo Crivelli.
There is history. But here it seems like a modern trend, especially in Scandinavian countries.
So I decided to do some experiments. I found actually really fun to play around with coriander, heritage tomatoes, artichoke, a pumpkin!
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