Felicity Souter’s Painting the Plate Illustrates the Connections Between Food and Art

There is perhaps nothing more universal than food. Regardless of race, gender, age, profession, even species, we all have to eat. And it’s not just a necessity: For many of us, food functions as a highlight of our days. We look forward to that salad we packed for lunch or the reservations we made for after work or the snack we tucked into our tote bag on the way out the door.

Art is nearly as universal as food, and artists are no different from the rest of us, shaping their days not just around painting or observing studio models but around soups and pies and steaming plates of rice. In her new book Painting the Plate: 52 Recipes Inspired by Great Works of Art from Mark Rothko, Frida Kahlo and Many More, Felicity Souter seeks to highlight these connections between food and artists by crafting recipes meant to visually mirror famous works of art. Recipes in the book are inspired by works from artists ranging from Marina Abramović to Jean-Michel Basquiat, from Man Ray to Salvador Dalí.

Souter, who studied Fine Art at Newcastle University, was raised with a love of food, and throughout her career in the art world, she wanted to find a way to bring two of her passions together; Painting the Plate is the result. “​​I have always been obsessed with making things, and in my mind, art and cooking are very much interconnected,” explains Souter. “They both offer me a chance to get my hands dirty and experience the joy of bringing together individual elements to make something new.”

What I love about this book is the fact that it has such wide appeal. Home cooks will appreciate recipes like Roasted Pineapple Meringue Pie (Bridget Riley), Beetroot-Cured Salmon with Homemade Blinis (Lowell Blair Nesbitt) and Roasted Pepper Tart with a Parmesan Crust (Mark Rothko). You don’t have to spend much time in the kitchen to get something from the book, though; every recipe and artist feature also contains nuggets of art history, presented through the lens of food, of course. The result is a cookbook that appeals to art lovers just as much as it appeals to those attempting to craft a dinner party menu.

Not every work of art in the book was easy to pair with a dish, though. “The artwork I struggled to adapt the most was probably Georgette Chen’s Rambutans (c. 1965), which became Singaporean-inspired laksa with fish balls,” says Souter. “I absolutely love Chen’s work and was determined to include her story in the book, but the selection of images available to us was slightly limited, and I struggled to find a recipe that had both a link to the artist and a strong visual connection. But a eureka moment came at 3 a.m. one night, and now, I think it’s one of the most striking images in the book.”

If you’re interested in learning about art history—and about food—in a perhaps unconventional but illuminating way, this cookbook delivers a multisensory experience sure to make you rethink the way you digest art. “I hope Painting the Plate offers an alternative perspective on art history, perhaps humanising some of the great artists we revere so much,” says Souter. Maybe it can also help us draw deeper connections between food and art, between these universals that unite us, between the stuff that keeps us alive and the stuff we want to stay alive for.

Samantha Maxwell is a food writer and editor based in Boston. Follow her on Twitter at @samseating.