Gourmet Museum and Library

The Gourmet Museum and Library (French: Bibliothèque et musée de la Gourmandise) is a museum dedicated to the history of gastronomy, located in Hermalle-sous-Huy, province of Liège, Belgium.

Overview

Library

It is the most important collection of food and drink books in Belgium and one of the twenty largest in Europe.^[1] The books, mainly old, are about food, arts of the table and tobacco, mainly in Europe and particularly in Belgium. They are classified by subjects: biographies, history, biographies, recipes, religious cookery, children’s cookery, dietetics, vegetarianism, veganism, home economics, sociology, food chemistry, publicities, iconography, literature, music, etc.

The data-processing encoding is modern. An outline of the catalogue is reproduced on the website. This library has the only specimen of the Cuisinier anglais.

The library also has other specialities:

Art History and archaeology
Dance and choreography
Local and dialectal Archives
History of the Post office and of the script (funds created in 2004 with the Museum “Postes restantes” located in the same building).

The works are consultable on written request and appointment, given the voluntary help of the librarians.

Museum

Authentic objects of gastronomy, original paintings, furniture, masterpieces and objects of curiosity, etc. are laid out in vaulted rooms of the 17th century.^[2] The visits are always guided: the visitors are accompanied by a guide which explains, in an attractive and humorous way, the history of the cookery by taking its interlocutors into account. The children, the elderly, the disabled person find here an adapted reception. The association received the Belgium price CAP48 2009 for this policy^[3]

Exhibitions

Library and museum also organize in situ temporary exhibitions ; they take part in cultural big events (like Made in Belgium in Brussels), and collaborate with other museums or institutions for research.

Further activities

From 2002, the NPO founder organizes guided walks for the discovery of a particular gastronomic heritage: the edible wild plants.^[4] In addition, the tavern of the museums proposes dishes according to recipes from the library ; it thus allows the public to taste an old and regional cooking.^[5]

Sites of activity

Library and museum are installed in the “Ferme castrale of Hermalle-sous-Huy” (in the administrative entity of Engis), old farm of the contiguous castle. The buildings, which date from 17th and 18th centuries, can be the subject of a guided visit for groups. In addition to diary and tourist information in English, the website offers, in its French part, feature articles on particular subjects of gastronomy.^[6]

Notes

^ "Musée Gourmandise - Bibliothèque". www.musee-gourmandise.be. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
^ "Musée Gourmandise - Musée". www.musee-gourmandise.be. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
^ Guy Van den Noortgate, Prix catégorie Accessibilité. La Rawète a adapté ses musées, Business Trends-Tendances, 2010 January 28.
^ "Ils donnent cours sur le livre de cuisine". www.lavenir.net (in French). Retrieved 2021-11-13.
^ Nicolas Balmet, " A historic meal at the museum of gluttony ", Le Vif / L'Express. 2 nd Cahier, Le Vif weekend , n o 20, 16-22 May 2019, p. 14.
^ "Musée Gourmandise - Articles de fond". www.musee-gourmandise.be. Retrieved 2021-11-13.

Sources

Le Patrimoine monumental de la Belgique, Wallonie, T. 16/1, Mardaga, Liège, 1992, d/1991/0024/10
Brochure des journées du Patrimoine en Wallonie, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Hermalle-sous-Huy Un village du val mosan, D/2004/8066/2 – ISBN 2-9600307-2-9
Nos recettes anciennes et belges, D/2002/8066/1 – ISBN 2-9600307-0-2
Guide des musées Wallonie-Bruxelles, D/2007/3606/1
A... Musées vous !, ISSN 0033-1872, 02/2006
Châteaux de la Meuse, Ed. FTPL - VVV Zuid-Limburg - Toerisme Limburg - FTPN, 2006
Fiche du Patrimoine (Hermalle-sous-Huy, Ferme), Ed. DGATLP, Ministère de la Région wallonne
Carnet du Patrimoine : Verstraeten J., Moreau Cl. et CX. Ménage, la Ferme castrale d'Hermalle-sous-Huy in Le Patrimoine rural du Pays d'Amay, Ed. Ministère de la Région wallonne, 1996
Lemonnier A. & Marlaire Cl., Le Pont de Hermalle-sous-Huy - la Ferme castrale d'Hermalle-sous-Huy in Ponts d'hier et d'aujourd'hui - Le Pays hutois, Ed. MET, 1999
Portugaels, Lily, La « Rawète » d'Internet, in La Libre Belgique-La Gazette de Liège, 2002, February 11
Lemaire, Guy, Le musée de la gourmandise, Unique en Belgique, in Ambiance, 2003, May 21
Duchateau, Catherine, Al Rawète devient La rawète, in Vers l'Avenir, 2003, May 16
Lemaire, Guy, Keenan Vranckx – Cuisine pour Harry Potter - Taxidermie culinaire, in Spectacles, 2004, March 3

External links

Media related to Musée de la Gourmandise at Wikimedia Commons

50°33′26″N 5°21′41″E / 50.5572°N 5.3614°E / 50.5572; 5.3614

[1] "Musée Gourmandise - Bibliothèque". www.musee-gourmandise.be. Retrieved 2021-11-13.

[2] "Musée Gourmandise - Musée". www.musee-gourmandise.be. Retrieved 2021-11-13.

[3] Guy Van den Noortgate, Prix catégorie Accessibilité. La Rawète a adapté ses musées, Business Trends-Tendances, 2010 January 28.

[4] "Ils donnent cours sur le livre de cuisine". www.lavenir.net (in French). Retrieved 2021-11-13.

[5] Nicolas Balmet, " A historic meal at the museum of gluttony ", Le Vif / L'Express. 2 nd Cahier, Le Vif weekend , n o 20, 16-22 May 2019, p. 14.

[6] "Musée Gourmandise - Articles de fond". www.musee-gourmandise.be. Retrieved 2021-11-13.

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