Making Food Into an Art in Muslim-Majority Cultures
Focused on the SWANA region, The Art of Diningtransforms meals into narrative experiences, showing how food connects people not only to their roots, but also to each another.
by Tamar Boyadjian 
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The city of Istanbul — with its far-reaching Byzantine, Cilician Armenian, Jewish, and Parthian presence — is one such example where multiple influences collectively shaped the cultural identity of its premodern history. Using the term “Islamicate,” coined by historian Marshall Hodgson, could have alluded to the importance of Islam as a cultural force that influenced non-Muslims in the region, while also acknowledging their presence and contribution to the development of a sociopolitical and economic cosmos there. Doing so would have also reinforced the exhibit’s already strong foundation by showcasing Islamicate civilization as an integral component of world history and Islam’s influence upon it — especially through the exquisite ways in which it highlighted the history of food culture as a unifying element within this narrative.
The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic Worldcontinues at the Detroit Institute of Arts (5200 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan) through January 5, 2025. The exhibition was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
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