Mechelen serves the food history of the Low Countries in four courses

A meal here is not a still life but a way to read a society. Burgundian Dining, the new exhibition at Museum Hof van Busleyden, organises the shared food and drink culture of the Low Countries in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as a four-course meal.

The four sections are titled A Powerful Meal, A Steaming Kitchen, A Tasty City, and Gluttony and Scarcity. The museum uses them to explore how food and drink were linked to power, cooking, urban life and unequal abundance. The exhibition runs from 31 October 2026 through 11 April 2027.

The museum is working with scenographer Aslı Çiçek; food archaeologist Jeroen Van Vaerenbergh and researcher-archaeologist Dana Piessens contributed to the subject. Openbaar Kunstbezit Vlaanderen reports that around a hundred works of art and historical objects are being brought together.

According to the museum, the selection combines its own collection with loans from museums in Belgium and abroad.

A freely reusable image from the same historical food world is Joachim Beuckelaer’s Vegetable Seller, painted in 1565. The source identifies it as a painting, but not as part of this exhibition; the caption therefore presents it as a historical illustration and collection image.

Admission and an audio guide are included with the ticket; the guide is available in Dutch, French and English. A family trail is available for children aged six and over, and drop-in tours take place on Sundays. The museum also lists tastings and workshops with Mechelen partners, which require booking.