The Smithsonian's Food & Farm Museum

What about adding a National Museum of Food & Agriculture as part of the USA's Smithsonian network?

We kept hearing that the newest Smithsonian component...the National Museum of the American Indian which opened last week to great fanfare was filling the last space on Washington's National Mall, home to a half dozen or more museums in the Smithsonian family.

Yes, that was the last open space, but what about taking the only non-museum building on the mall which happens to be just one of several Department of Agriculture offices (see maps above) and convert that to a museum dedicated to American food and farming? We have always thought that the Dept of Agriculture building is out of place along side the Freer Art Gallery, across from the National Museum of American History and nearby to the National Museum of Natural History, and Smithsonian museums devoted to African and Asian art.

There are some exhibits about farming in the American History museum, and here and there at the Natural History museum a visitor can see something about the foods of the Americas. But how Americans have farmed and fed themselves and much of the rest of the world is mostly neglected by the nation's official museum system.

So, you may be seeing this proposal here for the first time. The Department of Agriculture has lots of other office buildings nearby and many more in other parts of the DC metro area, so displacing some employees shouldn't be a huge problem.

What do you think about this? Should we try and mount a campaign to get this idea discussed?

Comments

[Foodie]

Belated remarks, and thanks to all---Yes, Sean, The FOOD Museum itself, right here at www.foodmuseum.com, has actual ( not just virtual) food-related collections---artifacts, ephemera, art, all about food topics. If Ludlow is interested, maybe we can deal.
Yes, Jamaica we met with the folks at Copia and enjoyed touring their site ( they do not call themselves a museum)--they do some fine work. But adding wine to the mix and having the wine industry as a major player is probably not going to work on the Mall. We applaud all who are working to preserve food heritage. Please take a look at the Global Food Heritage Project on our site.

[Jamaica Jones]

Though there may be no NATIONAL museum of Food and Drink, perhaps, there is a rather remarkable institution in Napa, CA called Copia. Their full name is Copia, the American Center for Wine, Food, and the Arts. Interestingly, the idea of a Food and Wine museum was pitched for the last Smithsonian plot, but turned down. The woman who suggested it now runs Copia. Check it out at www.copia.org.

[Sean K]

It amazes me that there is no National Food Museum. Good luck with your proposal.

Here, for a postgraduate college project, I am designing a (theoretical) Food Museum for the English town of Ludlow. Ludlow was the first UK "Citta Slow" town and hosts an annual Food & Drink Festival.

Has anyone here ever come across a collection of Food related items, anywhere else in the USA or abroad?

I would be grateful for any ideas.

How would you intend to finance a Food Museum - 'sponsored by Walmart' maybe :-))

[Irene Berman-Levine, Ph.D., R.D.]

I would LOVE to see a national food and drink museum. Food nourishes both our body and our soul. It reflects the melting pot of cultures in the United States.

Surely it is also an opportunity to blend history, health and taste.

If you have any more news, I would be glad to write an article about the concept in my free e-mail nutrition newsletter "Dr. Irene's Nutrition Tidbits". (anyone can sign up for free at www.drirene.net - It's fun to read the blogs of a food-obsessed dietitian!

[Linnea Nydatich]

I think that a food and drink museum would be a wonderful idea. Obviously food plays a central role in people's lives and reflects not only an essential need but also cultural values that shift according to a variety of ideas about nutrition and life.