This painting has some mysterious objects on the left plate (a red shape, some popcorn sticks, and a... a thing shaped like a "D" hanging off the edge of the plate). This other painting by the same artist has similar objects (again left plate). I have been curious about this for a long time and it just occurred to me that someone on reddit might know the answer or be able to give me an idea where to go to find out. Thanks!
edit: I think the popcorn looking stuff may be ragged comfits, similar to birignoccoluto
edit2: The letters are probably banketstaven Thanks for all the help!
UPDATE:
The cookies are speculaas! Gingerbread, representing the chocolate letters that Santa/Sinterklaas delivered.
Source , pages 194-5
So this painting (not sure if you knew the artist or not) was done by a Dutch artist, Pieter Claesz, who's very well known for food still lifes, and it was probably completed between 1625-30. I'm going to hereby presume the food is Dutch, or at least limited to Western Europe. This particular type is called a "banketgen" (banquet piece), obviously for its subject matter.
As far as what the 'popcorn sticks' and the D-shaped foods are, it's likely that the latter is a pastry, perhaps poffertjes (similar to pancakes) or oliebols, which is like a fritter. There's also a kind of dessert called Speculaas, which is a Christmastime spiced cookie. Or they could just be a typical iced cookie.
The sticks could be cinnamon bark, marzipan rolled in a coating like crushed almonds or oats, or they might be some kind of pretzel. I can't quite get an eye on those.
I've linked below a website that has an list of 15-17th Century Dutch food with pictures. Hopefully this helped!
SOURCES:
History of 17th Century Dutch Cuisine
EDIT: I think you're right about the ragged comfits!
Is there a higher definition image of the paintings?
