Food for Thought
Visit these four museum exhibits that explore the intersections of food, art, and culture
Food is more than sustenance. Since the beginning of mankind, we’ve used the gathering of food, the preparing of food, and the eating of food in everything from religious rituals to rites of passage to social bonding.
The celebration of food has become part of every aspect of our lives: we wear clothes that bear our favorite fruits, we sing about our favorite meals, and celebrate everything from weddings to the end of another work week with a toast.
There are several fine museum exhibits that explore our relationship with food. In them, you’ll find how what we eat and drink is reflected in our art, fashion, culture, history, and the very fabric of our society.
The Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Located in Washington DC at the National Mall, the National Museum of American History is filled with treasures including dresses worn by this country’s First Ladies, a history of Disney Parks, and the flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner. But the reason why many people travel to this gem is to see an exact recreation of Julia Child’s Cambridge kitchen. The kitchen is part of the museum’s FOOD: Transforming the American Table exhibit that explores the cultural impact that food has had on the American people.
The Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT)
The Museum at FIT explores the crossroads of food and fashion at Food & Fashion. The exhibit explores the prevalence of food themes in our clothes (who hasn’t worn a shirt with a taco pattern?) and includes sections called “The Fashion Kitchen,” “The Market,” “The Fast Food Diner,” and “The High Fashion Restaurant.” The exhibition’s main gallery is fashioned into a food hall that includes stalls exploring ten themes including “Haute Couture/Haute Cuisine,” which features a candy pink damask gown, circa 1765; “Dressing to Dine” which offers a look at gowns for tea, dinner, and cocktail hour; and “A Feast for the Eyes” which delves into how food, fashion, and art have made their marks in contemporary fashion design. The exhibit, which runs from September 13 through November 26, includes more than 80 fashion items by Chanel, Moschino, Stella McCartney, and others.
Asheville Art Museum
This well-curated museum in the center of Downtown Asheville is serving up The Art of Food: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation through October 22. The exhibition displays more than 100 works in various mediums including prints, ceramics, photographs, and paintings by 37 artists including notable names like Andy Warhol, David Hockney, and Jasper Johns.
The Oscar Getz Museum of Bourbon History
If you’re in search of a little knowledge while visiting Kentucky’s famous Bourbon Trail, stop into the Oscar Getz Museum, located in Bardstown, Kentucky (the official starting point of most bourbon tours). The museum was founded by Oscar Getz who, after prohibition, became one of the country’s largest whiskey wholesalers. Getz was also a collector of whiskey memorabilia, and his collection is the heart of the museum.