Tate Modern creates Andy Warhol-inspired menu

‘Pâté for the Cat’. ‘Caviar with the Shar'. ‘Tuna Fish Disaster’. Just some of the intriguingly (if not invitingly) titled dishes gracing Tate Modern's menu from March 2020. Created by head chef of Level 9 restaurant Jon Atashroo, ‘Flavours from "The Factory"' is inspired by American artist Andy Warhol, whose life and work is the focus of this year's blockbuster Tate Modern exhibition. It's the first time the institution has exhibited Warhol in depth in two decades.

The artist had a curious relationship with food. ‘I was particularly interested in the social pressures Warhol felt when eating out, along with food as a recurring motif in his work and life,' Atashroo explains. ‘My menu is based around this whilst incorporating a number of culinary anecdotes I uncovered during my research.'

It's widely known, for example, that Warhol had an insatiable sweet tooth. He was a fan of fruit (he particularly cherished cherries), opulent desserts, and little else. Atashroo's menu features four sweets, designed for sharing, including the artist's favoured breakfast Kellogg's Corn Flakes (which he is known to have eaten when he woke up in the early afternoon, and immortalised in his 1964 installation piece of the same name). In his signature style – pairing delicious ingredients with unconventional techniques – Atashroo has infused the milky cereal into a light pana cotta.

The chef keeps things light with a witty savoury menu that captures Warhol's indifference to conventional eating. ‘Tuna Fish Disaster' – inspired by the artist's 1963 silkscreen print depicting the story of two ladies who died from a tainted can of tuna; while the Edie Beale-esque ‘Pâté for the Cat’ – a reference to a quote stating that Warhol's ‘hairdresser's cat ate his leftover pâté at least twice per week.'

You can dine like Warhol (and his hairdresser's cat) during the exhibition's season-long run in the museum's Level 9 restaurant. But if ‘Tuna Fish Disaster' doesn't take your fancy, perhaps Warhol's Favourite Frozen Hot Chocolate will, also available throughout Tate Modern's cafés.

INFORMATION

tate.org.uk