Something fishy is going on at York City Art Gallery.

The gallery is hosting an exhibition of paintings from the 17th and 18th century depicting a collection of food-themed paintings to make your mouth water.

Lucy Adlington, from the Century Adventures History Group, will be playing Fanny Fettigrew, an 18th century kitchenmaid who will explain some of the ideas behind the paintings in the Food For Thought exhibition.

Victoria Osborne, art assistant at the gallery, said: "The paintings are from our own collection. It's a mixture of some of our star items from the collection, shown in a new context, but there are also some which have been recently restored. "There are all sorts of different types of food represented, from fruit and veg to game.

"They are mainly still life paintings with a mixture of humble and simple types of foodstuffs and very rich banquet style food with beautiful tables with fine porcelain and silverware."

The exhibition is in the south gallery until July 22. Opening times are 10am to 5pm seven days a week.

Updated: 12:09 Thursday, April 19, 2001