The Fat Kitchen, by 17th-century Dutch painter Jan Steen (1650)

The Fat Kitchen, by 17th-century Dutch painter Jan Steen (1650)

Much of the food that early settlers in New Amsterdam consumed came from gardens, fields and forests around them, but at least initially, the implements they used to prepare and eat food were brought with them or imported. Because the Dutch engaged in abundant trade with many countries, seventeenth-century settlers on the southern tip of Manhattan had access to a diverse assortment of household goods.

Excavations of lots once inhabited by the first settlers revealed the shards of cookware, tableware, bottles and drinking vessels displayed in this exhibit. All were in common use during this early period, and have been sourced using historical records, seventeenth-century Dutch paintings, and scientific analysis. 

Exhibit Credits:
Based on "New Amsterdam Kitchen," an exhibit of artifacts by the New York State Museum on display at the New Netherland Research Center in the New York State Library.

Online production by Steve McErleane.

Photography by Dietrich Gehring.