(Courtesy of the Smithsonian)
By DCist Contributor Johanna Mendelson Forman
In a city where black tie dinners are a dime a dozen, the October 22nd gala at the National Museum of American History is no ordinary party. This event will kick off the museum’s first Food History Weekend. And none other than Jacques Pepin, the legendary French chef, and long-time cooking side-kick of the late Julia Child, will be on hand to receive the first award of the Julia Child Foundation.
But even if you are not one of the A-list of invitees to the dinner, there are numerous free events starting on the afternoon of the 22nd where you can meet a food legend like Pepin, learn a new cooking skill, and see why the celebration of food in American culture has become a central feature of the museum’s focus on innovation.
So why is the Museum of American History the new venue for foodies? Paula Johnson, curator in the museum’s division of work and industry, says that food can serve as a powerful lens to explore different facets of American history, and it also reflects the public’s renewed interest in American regional cuisine.
Ever since the museum first acquired Julia Child’s kitchen in the mid-1990s, there has been a growing demand to give greater attention to the culture of food and eating in our nation. And Julia and Julia, the novel and film about Julia Child’s time in France, has helped cement the chef’s status as a pop culture icon. Johnson also notes that with the explosion of the celebrity chef culture and televised cooking competitions, it is no surprise that there is great interest in food studies among researchers and journalists, as well as policy makers and nutritionists.
On October 23 and 24, the museum will host a variety of mostly free events related to food history and innovation, including lectures, film screenings, and exhibitions. Friday will be devoted to a series of roundtables on the future of food with experts in agriculture, business, and the culinary arts. On Saturday the museum will host a festival featuring hands-on programming that will bring innovative food-related objects out of storage for the public to see and feel. Other highlights include a series of live cooking demonstrations featuring local Mexican chefs Pati Jinich and Neftali Duran, Nathan Anda of Red Apron, Warren Brown of Cakelove, and more. To top it all off, there will be an after hours event on advances in brewing, complete with beer tastings, on Saturday night. Check out the entire schedule here.
The future of food is something that we cannot ignore. By 2050 there will be nine billion people on this planet. The American History Museum’s Food History Weekend will be a terrific opportunity to meet experts in the field of food, nutrition, and culture, and a worthy (and fun) way to learn more about how we will feed future generations.
Johanna Mendelson Forman is a Scholar-in-Residence at the School of International Service at American University and creator of Conflict Cuisines: War and Peace around the Dinner Table.
