Products from Persia at the World Exhibition in Amsterdam 1883
An intriguing object from the World Exhibition in Amsterdam 1883 bears inventory number 503 – 333, a reference to the collection of Albert P.H. Hotz.
He was a Dutch entrepreneur who founded the Perzische Handelsvereeniging (Persian Trade Company) in Teheran in 1874. Persia had opened its borders for international trade and the Hotz family started projects in mining, agriculture, banking, tapestry and the opium trade.
This company was the first in drilling for oil in Persian territory.
Like Von Siebold, Hotz was very much interested in local culture. His inheritance consists of about 15,000 books about Persian and surrounding cultures and a unique collection of high quality photographs, which he took himself between 1874 and 1902. Hotz wanted to sell his Persian products and therefore did send a selection of them to the Exhibition in Amsterdam. Among these were food samples that the museum bought after the exhibition was closed. The glass jar labeled as ‘milk’, is mentioned in the exhibition catalogue as kechk, which we can identify now as kashk or sun-dried buttermilk or yoghurt formed into balls, which are reconstituted in water. They are still common in Iran for making a sour drink or they are used as a binder in sauces, soups and stews. Iranian kashk is comparable to quroot in Afghanistan.
Hotz’s choice of Persian culinary products was rather inscrutable. Number 503-333 is a glass jar filled with the ‘stomach of a lamb’. Why he selected this organ together with bitter almonds, chickpeas, riceflour and ‘mixed seeds’ instead of Iranian cuisine highlights like rice, sheeptail fat, caviar, saffron, dried fruits, dates, pistachio nuts and essences from fruits and flowers, is a question that probably will never be answered.
