In medieval times, bread was a luxury food reserved for wealthy people. The common people mainly ate their grains in the form of porridge. In the Kempen, for example, people ate a nutritious buckwheat porridge. However, bread did become increasingly popular, first in the cities, later also in the country. Between 1600 and 1900, bread was the staple food in Western society. A large part of the population earned a living by growing grain for bread. In the Kempen countryside, mainly rye was cultivated. Well into the 20th century, this grain was used to bake a dark sourdough bread.
In the yard of Kilbershoeve, a farmhouse from Meeuwen, you’ll find out everything about the art of baking bread. Brought together in one of the museum’s farmyards, here you’ll find not only a number of bakery tools and other pieces from the Bokrijk collection, but also the many traditions surrounding bread, their meaning and importance. The barn in the yard was thoroughly restored and has now been refurbished as ‘De Superette Bokrijk’. To this end, Bokrijk has partnered with Kobe Desramaults, a ‘contemporary craftsman’, who chose Bokrijk to open the second branch of ‘De Superette’.