A Visit to “Our Global Kitchen”

The Bell Museum recently relocated to Falcon Heights from its previous location on the University of Minnesota Minneapolis campus. I was eager to check out the its new location as well as an exhibit on loan from the American Museum of Natural History. The exhibit, "Our Global Kitchen", examines our food systems "from farm to fork". It will be on display through January 6 and I highly recommend it as a visit sometime during the holiday season.

From Farm to Fork

At the exhibit, you will learn more than you thought possible about how food is grown and what foods people eat in different parts of the world. There are interactive tabletop displays (recipes and cooking in progress), "scent boxes" where you can inhale the aroma of popcorn and cocoa, and a life-size diorama of an Aztec marketplace. Smaller dioramas show rice farming in Asia, corn production in Iowa, and fish farming in our oceans. Kids and adults alike will be fascinated by the giant cassava root and the cube-shaped watermelon.

There is a lot of factual information about the amount of food grown globally as well as nutritional needs and supplies worldwide. The exhibit reminds us that there is enough food grown to provide enough calories for everyone in the world; it simply does not get to everyone who needs it. The sculpture showing the food waste for a family of four in the U.S. in one year is amazing. Also at the exhibit are table settings from around the world and through history. You can see how Jane Austen must have eaten as well as what Michael Phelps ate during the Olympics.

I also enjoyed the display of cookbooks and cooking equipment. There is something for everyone in this exhibit. Be sure to plan enough time to appreciate it all and be amazed at what you will learn. The Bell Museum is at 2088 Larpenteur Ave, Falcon Heights and is open daily from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. "Our Global Kitchen" is on display through January 6.

Vernita Kennen

Incarnation Lutheran, Shoreview