Food for thought: Smithsonian food history exhibit makes last stop in Utah
By Valerie Phillips
Deseret Morning News
Published: Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2004 1:05 p.m. MST
If you haven't yet caught the Smithsonian's food history exhibit as it's traveled around the state, your last chance is in the next two months.
"Key Ingredients: America by Food" makes the last stop on its Utah tour starting Saturday at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center, 1355 W. 3100 South, in West Valley City. The exhibit ends March 20.
"Key Ingredients" is part of the Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street program, where exhibits travel to communities across the United States. So far, the tour has generated lots of hoopla with food seminars, classes and events in the host communities — Castle Dale, Huntsville, Springdale, Richfield and most recently, Tooele.
Each community has also supplemented the Smithsonian's exhibit with its own local flavors and food-related artifacts. West Valley City will follow suit, with events that highlight the area's cultural and culinary diversity.
Each week during the exhibit is themed to a different type of ethnic cuisine, and there will be classes on Vietnamese, Dutch oven, Native American and Latin American cooking. The Utah Scottish Association will present its annual Robert Burns Supper honoring Scotland's statesman and poet. Amateur writers can hone their own skills with a Food Lore Writing Workshop. At "A World of Tastes" on Feb. 7, diners can sample cuisine from local ethnic restaurants, such as Bangkok Thai, Boondocks. Pacific Grill, Cedars of Lebanon, Jinub Sudan and Star of India.
"The interesting thing about West Valley is that it's very diverse, and the restaurants are really great," said Sarah Parady, outreach coordinator at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center. "Part of the exhibit discusses the influence of immigration to the U.S., so we thought we would focus on that."
The Smithsonian's exhibit consists of five 13-foot-high panels, or kiosks, mounted with photos and a few artifacts, such as the Pillsbury Doughboy and an early veggie-chopping gadget (the forerunner to all those products advertised in infomercials today). There are windows that open to reveal a regional specialty, such as fry bread tacos (known here as Navajo tacos), Chicago deep-dish pizza, Philly cheesesteak sandwiches and the veggie mix called succotash.
At the exhibit, you can see how America's natural resources — fisheries, farmlands and grazing areas — contributed to what we eat. There's a kiosk on how the industrial revolution brought about freezing, canning and the many small kitchen appliances we take for granted today.
The kiosk on home cooking has an old recipe collection and a diagram of a proper table setting from the 1859 edition of Godey's Lady Book. (One difference from the way we set tables today — the knife was set above the plate, instead of next to the spoon.) The food festival panel talks about regional feasts, such as fish fries, clambakes, lobster boils, barbecue cook-offs and Dutch oven cookouts. There's a photo of Lamb Days in Fountain Green, where pit-roasted lamb is a tradition.
You can try on a Cheese Head hat popular with Green Bay Packers fans and view Olympic food pins, such as fry sauce, green Jell-O, and funeral potatoes.
To supplement the Smithsonian's pieces, some of West Valley's food institutions (including Winder Dairy, Fassio Egg Farms, Harmon's Grocery and Brock Brother's Produce) will have historical displays.
"They will be including a lot of interesting old artifacts and pictures," said Parady. "One of the things that's really interactive is the community writing center. We are hoping to get people to share their funny stories from Thanksgiving and those kinds of things."
Most recently, the exhibit was in Tooele's Pioneer Museum. "We've had a crowd of people every day, and we've been packed every night that we've done food demonstrations," said Barbara Barlow, a local exhibit committee member.
Tooele residents donated family heirlooms for its display — a baker's cabinet, a cream separator, a butter churn, a 1936 cookbook, as well as plates, cups and bowls from bygone eras. The Tooele committee hopes to make it an ongoing part of the museum, said Barlow. "Families would donate their historic items to display in the museum for a few months at a time."
Mike Christensen, the program scholar from the Utah Humanities Council, helped the communities develop their events and exhibits.
"There's been a wide variety of events, and they've all been excellent," he said. "The Museum on Main Street program is designed to help rural museums shine, to allow them to demonstrate their contributions to small-town life. A metropolitan area like West Valley City wouldn't normally get this kind of exhibit, but because the Utah Cultural Celebration Center is such a new entity and fits well with the exhibit's theme, that's why we've been allowed to get it."
Christensen said he's noticed that people are drawn in by the the Smithsonian's reputation, but they're also impressed with the local exhibits.
"People are really wowed that the Smithsonian is coming," he said. "These are great exhibits, with eye-catching pictures and great text. But then when people see an exhibit with something like Winder Dairy or Fassio Eggs, they get a sense that their community contributed to those themes articulated nationally. It instills a sense of pride in the local flavors."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail: vphillips@desnews.com
© 2009 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved
By Valerie Phillips
Deseret Morning News
Published: Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2004 1:05 p.m. MST
If you haven't yet caught the Smithsonian's food history exhibit as it's traveled around the state, your last chance is in the next two months.
"Key Ingredients: America by Food" makes the last stop on its Utah tour starting Saturday at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center, 1355 W. 3100 South, in West Valley City. The exhibit ends March 20.
"Key Ingredients" is part of the Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street program, where exhibits travel to communities across the United States. So far, the tour has generated lots of hoopla with food seminars, classes and events in the host communities — Castle Dale, Huntsville, Springdale, Richfield and most recently, Tooele.
Each community has also supplemented the Smithsonian's exhibit with its own local flavors and food-related artifacts. West Valley City will follow suit, with events that highlight the area's cultural and culinary diversity.
Each week during the exhibit is themed to a different type of ethnic cuisine, and there will be classes on Vietnamese, Dutch oven, Native American and Latin American cooking. The Utah Scottish Association will present its annual Robert Burns Supper honoring Scotland's statesman and poet. Amateur writers can hone their own skills with a Food Lore Writing Workshop. At "A World of Tastes" on Feb. 7, diners can sample cuisine from local ethnic restaurants, such as Bangkok Thai, Boondocks. Pacific Grill, Cedars of Lebanon, Jinub Sudan and Star of India.
"The interesting thing about West Valley is that it's very diverse, and the restaurants are really great," said Sarah Parady, outreach coordinator at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center. "Part of the exhibit discusses the influence of immigration to the U.S., so we thought we would focus on that."
The Smithsonian's exhibit consists of five 13-foot-high panels, or kiosks, mounted with photos and a few artifacts, such as the Pillsbury Doughboy and an early veggie-chopping gadget (the forerunner to all those products advertised in infomercials today). There are windows that open to reveal a regional specialty, such as fry bread tacos (known here as Navajo tacos), Chicago deep-dish pizza, Philly cheesesteak sandwiches and the veggie mix called succotash.
At the exhibit, you can see how America's natural resources — fisheries, farmlands and grazing areas — contributed to what we eat. There's a kiosk on how the industrial revolution brought about freezing, canning and the many small kitchen appliances we take for granted today.
The kiosk on home cooking has an old recipe collection and a diagram of a proper table setting from the 1859 edition of Godey's Lady Book. (One difference from the way we set tables today — the knife was set above the plate, instead of next to the spoon.) The food festival panel talks about regional feasts, such as fish fries, clambakes, lobster boils, barbecue cook-offs and Dutch oven cookouts. There's a photo of Lamb Days in Fountain Green, where pit-roasted lamb is a tradition.
You can try on a Cheese Head hat popular with Green Bay Packers fans and view Olympic food pins, such as fry sauce, green Jell-O, and funeral potatoes.
To supplement the Smithsonian's pieces, some of West Valley's food institutions (including Winder Dairy, Fassio Egg Farms, Harmon's Grocery and Brock Brother's Produce) will have historical displays.
"They will be including a lot of interesting old artifacts and pictures," said Parady. "One of the things that's really interactive is the community writing center. We are hoping to get people to share their funny stories from Thanksgiving and those kinds of things."
Most recently, the exhibit was in Tooele's Pioneer Museum. "We've had a crowd of people every day, and we've been packed every night that we've done food demonstrations," said Barbara Barlow, a local exhibit committee member.
Tooele residents donated family heirlooms for its display — a baker's cabinet, a cream separator, a butter churn, a 1936 cookbook, as well as plates, cups and bowls from bygone eras. The Tooele committee hopes to make it an ongoing part of the museum, said Barlow. "Families would donate their historic items to display in the museum for a few months at a time."
Mike Christensen, the program scholar from the Utah Humanities Council, helped the communities develop their events and exhibits.
"There's been a wide variety of events, and they've all been excellent," he said. "The Museum on Main Street program is designed to help rural museums shine, to allow them to demonstrate their contributions to small-town life. A metropolitan area like West Valley City wouldn't normally get this kind of exhibit, but because the Utah Cultural Celebration Center is such a new entity and fits well with the exhibit's theme, that's why we've been allowed to get it."
Christensen said he's noticed that people are drawn in by the the Smithsonian's reputation, but they're also impressed with the local exhibits.
"People are really wowed that the Smithsonian is coming," he said. "These are great exhibits, with eye-catching pictures and great text. But then when people see an exhibit with something like Winder Dairy or Fassio Eggs, they get a sense that their community contributed to those themes articulated nationally. It instills a sense of pride in the local flavors."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail: vphillips@desnews.com
© 2009 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved
Comments