A dishy exhibition at Clifton Park Museum

Clifton Park Museum has launched the new The Dishes of Rotherham display, which will run until the spring.

Artist Simon Grennan has creatively brought together food made by ten cooks from contemporary Rotherham and presented them on the precious Rockingham tableware from the Museum’s collection.

The exhibition features a group of cooks from different cooking traditions, including Pakistani, Sudanese, Guinean, Ukrainian, Czech, Yemeni, Chinese and British.

Each has personally chosen a piece of Rockingham tableware from the collection and then cooked, styled and served their dishes on the Rockingham crockery.

Cllr David Sheppard, Rotherham Council’s cabinet member for social inclusion, said: “It is wonderful to see how Rotherham Council’s Clifton Park Museum are combining contemporary and traditional elements by putting residents’ food creations onto the famous Rockingham tableware in this vibrant exhibition uniquely portraying Rotherham’s past and present.

“This exhibition illustrates that cooking, dishing up and eating together are important community activities throughout history and across cultures, providing benefits to mental health and physical wellbeing, and empowering everyone to lead fulfilling lives.”

During the 1820s, 1830s and 1840s one of the most well-known and spectacular ways of serving food was provided by the porcelain tableware made by The Rockingham Pottery at a kiln in Swinton, which produced colourful, lavish and expensive tableware.