Abstract

Until very recently museums did not seem to acknowledge that food was eaten in the historic period. Although natural history museums spend much energy and exhibit space exploring the food of the people of prehistoric times, they tend to concentrate their energies and material culture collection on art, government, war, and religion in the time where a written record is available. The food museum, whether completely standalone, or partially incorporated into other museums, is a fairly modern attempt to remember and explore the fact that people continue to eat. This essay explores the importance of and reasons for the existence of food museums today.