Tip from The Hague Mauritshuis: 'This is how you present a herring!'

One benefit of the Museum Year Card not easily mentioned is the uninhibited free access to clean and comfortable restrooms in the centre of major cities. 'Fifty-plus urinals with MJK' an experienced museum porter called this group of visitors, who, by the way, are very welcome: every pull with the scanning gun means extra cash. Big advantage: you see something extra. A second or third lightning visit to an exhibition reveals things you didn't notice before. Because then you had your head in the musical mode.

Harinkje

'Aha, so this is how you present a herring!', I thought on my third (lightning) visit to the Slow Food exhibition at museum the Mauritshuis. In Still lifes from the Golden Age 'treats' (the communications department did not let that word run) the Hague museum offers 'tasty scenes and richly laid tables'. We can see over 20 paintings from the Golden Age there. Full of crumbly cheeses, oysters, wine, olives, fish and fruit.

It's all balm for the eye. 'Banquets' or 'breakfasts' they were called at the time. 'Kitchen pieces' my mother irreverently said. 'Meal still lifes' says the Mauritshuis with the knowledge of today, quite a bit of bravado.

What struck me at the last bathroom stop: the delightful, meticulously descriptive titles next to the paintings. 'Still life with cheeses, almonds and pretzels.' 'Still life with turkey pie.' 'Still life with fruit, gilded taza and basket of cheeses.'

Unclear bits

Another reason for an extra visit: you can take advantage of the presentation. My head was pained this week by an upcoming dinner visit from two real-life artists for whom we were a bit apprehensive: 'What on earth were we supposed to serve these people spoilt to the bone?'

How at least I knew after the delirious visit to the Slow Food exhibition. We no longer chop the lemons at the fish meal into indistinct pieces unpeeled. From now on, we cut off two thin slices, then make a long, narrow peel halfway down the lemon. You drape that long peel over the edge of the plate. If you are daring, leave a piece of zest hanging over the edge of the table as well. Put an expensive peeler next to the lemon. You can also do it with apples.

A Golden Tip from the Golden Age. To our guests dressed entirely in black, it hit like a bomb.

Floris van Schooten

As far as I am concerned, the food presentation discovery of the Golden Age stands in the name of Floris van Schooten (Haarlem, 1685). In his magisterial Still Life with Pewter Jug and Basket of Cheeses (c. 1623), he paints a herring of which the cut cubes are subtly shifted in relation to each other. So you get an aesthetic work of tooth on your plate. In the introductory video accompanying the exhibition, chef Joris Bijdendijk was like a chicken: 'I'm going to do that from now on, too! By the way: the pleasantly comical video by Bobcat Media (featuring a Mr Bean-like Andrea van de Pol, who runs down delicatessens and top chefs with the paintings: 'Do you still have this?') is already a reason to wave your MJK into the Mauritshuis an extra time.

I quickly threw off the slight trepidation of describing the above household lessons after glancing at the Mauritshuis' activities around the exhibition. They are going contemporary with lectures, tastings, workshops, films and contributions from entrepreneurs, specialists, chefs, beekeepers and growers. Onno Kleyn, the Netherlands' tastiest writer and the new Dikke van Dam, will drop by to share his culinary knowledge. On the Mauritshuis forecourt, there will be a glass greenhouse: Tasting Station Mh. Courtesy of Urban Farmers. A fine development, such an Exhibition-Plus. This is how you pull the art of 17th-century meal still lifes back into the modern kitchen.

Palais des Beaux Arts

The Palais des Beaux Arts in Lille, which I visited over the Whitsun weekend, shows that food can be a very productive theme to boost visitor numbers. Without having too many meal stills in the house, the management chased a famous three-star chef through the Palais: Alain Passard of restaurant Arpège in Paris, the temple of cooking vegetables and fish. Under the motto: 'A chef shakes up the palace.'

The idea fits seamlessly into the newfangled elevation of gifted cooks into true artists.

Five senses

Walking around the 16th- to 20th-century galleries, you will find paintings, videos and installations by modern artists on the theme of food, chef's choices that have vibrated and inspired his 'five senses'. In between: some not undeserving masterpieces by the chef himself. In the Palais' brand-new atrium (is beautiful) is an installation of pressure cookers sizzling and simmering. Among the 17th-century paintings, you'll find some giant crabs, scaring you to death.

In the middle of the Romance Hall, a giant chef flaunts an improbably ornate chef's costume. This subtly (well) intertwines the world of the celebrity chef with the museum's artworks. It's an original idea and it works.

Belgian Beer Café

Expected at the Mauritshuis, 7 September 2017 to 14 January 2018: Zuiderburen, Portraits from Flanders, 1400-1700. I suggest a Belgian Beer Café next to Het puttertje, course in jokes with Philippe Geubels in the basement and Saturday sing-alongs with Eddy Wally on the forecourt. Or is he no longer alive?