AT THE TABLE: Stories and Recipes from Treehouse

Where Layers Peel and Stories Begin

The exhibition "Embrace your inner Brussels sprout" was born from a simple, yet profound metaphor: like a sprout, we are all made of layers—of history, of culture, of secrets, and of memories. To truly understand one another, we must have the courage to peel those layers back.

And where does this peeling happen most naturally? At the table.

Over two extraordinary evenings at Treehouse NDSM, on March 11th and 14th, we invited a group of strangers to sit together. They came from everywhere: the bustling streets of Melbourne and the quiet fjords of Norway, the vibrant kitchens of Colombia and Vietnam, the traditional hearths of Italy, Poland, and Spain. They arrived with different backgrounds, different languages, and different origins.

But as soon as the first plates were served, something shifted.

The labels of "stranger" or "guest" dissolved. In the glow of the candles and the steam of the pots, we became equals. We were no longer defined by where we came from, but by our shared desire to tell our stories, to discover the world through someone else's eyes, and to fully live the present moment.

It was a rare and beautiful alchemy: people who had never met began to speak the universal language of spices and childhood nostalgia. By the time the last crumbs were cleared, those strangers walked away as friends, carrying with them a piece of someone else's heritage.

This booklet is a collection of those 24 moments. It is a map of our collective heart. It is proof that when we share a meal, we don't just feed the body, we nourish the soul and remind ourselves that, at the table, we are never truly alone.

Thank you for being part of the feast.