Amsterdam – Cook and Drink

The 2022 Johannes van Dam Prize

11 February 2022

Today the program of the 7th Amsterdam Symposium on the History of Food closed with the Prize-giving ceremony of the 2022 Johannes van Dam Prize and the 2022 Joop Witteveen Prize. Previous winners of the prestigious Johannes van Dam Prize include Yotam Ottolenghi, John Halvemaan, Carlo Petrini, Alice Waters, Claudia Roden and Alain Passard.

Joop Witteveen Prize

The Joop Witteveen prize was awarded to Marleen Willebrands, Christianne Muusers and Alexandra van Dongen, authors of Het Excellente Kookboek van doctor Carolus Battus. This book focus on the culinary world of doctor Battus, who lived from 1539 until 1619. His cookbook was published in 1593.

Two publications were shortlisted: Dirk-Jan Verdonk, Dierloos: Een geschiedenis van vegetariërs en veganisten in Nederland and Ingrid de Zwarte, Hongerwinter.

Marleen Willebrands and Christianne Muusers

Johannes van Dam prize

The 2022 Johannes van Dam prize was awarded to Belgian Chef Jeroen Meus. He is well known for his inspiring daily TV program Dagelijkse Kost (Daily Food). In this 15 minutes program he shares the fun of preparing food, for instance crumble pie with pears and raisins, monkfish with a mustard crust or penne with chorizo and red bell pepper. His aim is not to cook on Michelin Star level, his aim is to help everyone prepare tasty, good food, every day of the week. His books and website (in Dutch only) support this goal in a very helpful way.

Professor Louise O. Fresco, President of the Executive Board of Wageningen University & Research and chair of the jury, emphasised that Jeroen has a true talent to bring food and people together. She also highlighted his passion to prepare good food, and the fact that he shares that passion not only through cookbooks, but also via social media and a daily show on television. She mentioned he is an inspiration to all of us who love to cook and enjoy food.

Jeroen thanked the jury and all those who supported him over the years. He mentioned that he shared the love for meatballs with potato mash and endive (Chicorium endivia) with culinary journalist and food expert Johannes van Dam. He promised to prepare this dish next week on television, as a tribute to good food and to the prize.

Jeroen Meus with the Johannes van Dam prize

Professor Louise O. Fresco and Jeroen Meus

Symposium on the History of Food

12 December 2021

Next year on February 11th and 12th, the 7th Amsterdam Symposium on the History of Food will take place in Amsterdam. You can also join online, for € 40,00 only. Lunch not included of course. This year’s theme is Food and the Environment: The Dynamic Relationship Between Food Practices and Nature.

Program

The key note will be delivered by Ewout Frankema, Professor of Rural and Environmental History at the Dutch Wageningen University and research fellow of the UK Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). Amongst the speaker are Christian Reynolds on The evolution of “sustainable” and vegetarian recipes from manuscripts and cookbooks to online and Amber Striekwold on The Dutch Alternative Food Movement.

Ceremony

On Friday 11th the program will close with the Prize-giving ceremony of the 2022 Johannes van Dam Prize and the 2022 Joop Witteveen Prize. Previous winners of the prestigious Johannes van Dam Prize include Yotam Ottolenghi, John Halvemaan, Carlo Petrini, Alice Waters, Claudia Roden and Alain Passard (see picture).

Join the Symposium

Additional information and the registration form are available on the website of the symposium.

Alain Passard speeches after having received the Johannes van Dam Prize 2019 © cadwu

This Week was Special-A

27 January 2018

This week on Friday and Saturday the annual Amsterdam Symposium on the History of Food took place at the main auditorium of the University of Amsterdam. Such a pleasure to listen to great papers presented, discussing the origin of umani or the history of Byzantine taste (presented by Anouk Everts). The key-note was delivered by Peter Klosse. He made many interesting points with regard to taste and flavour. His analysis of Mouth Feel is food for thought and discussion.
PS Garum as used in the Byzantine kitchen is a fish sauce. It is made from fermented fish (sardines for instance) and salt. It goes back to Roman times. Fun to make, actually….

Johannes van Dam prize

Yotam Ottolenghi received the prestigious Johannes van Dam prize. The jury, chaired by professor Louise O. Fresco, mentioned Yotam’s impressive contribution to current Dutch and International cuisine. The prize is named after culinary writer and critic Johannes van Dam who was not only known for his reviews of restaurant but also for his massive collection of books on food and drinks. Mr. Ottolenghi was very pleased to receive the prize (as you can see in the picture!)

Joop Witteveen prize

Antwerpen a la carte was the winner in the Academic category, the Joop Witteveen Prize. A book that discusses not only the history of food in the port city of Antwerpen, but also today’s role of a (hungry) city in the area of food production and consumption. Main authors are Ilja van Damme and Leen Beyers. The book is linked to an exposition at the MAS in Antwerp.
More information about the papers can be found on the website of the conference.