I really would like to write more. There’s so much amazing history connected with cookware and jello and art. No, seriously. I’d probably start with the connection between Jell-o and Cooper Union, move on to all that awesome gelatin ephemera and go from there. Sigh. Another time.

Photo: mental.masala
San Francisco sculpted in cookware – Boing Boing

Photo: kwc
San Francisco In Jell-O on display in SF – Boing Boing

Photo: Mark Busse

Photo: Sonson

Spring Beekeeping A workshop offering an introduction to the fundamentals of beekeping!

Photo: TW Collins

From Udder to Butter?! Start by milking a cow and finish by eating the butter you finished churning! Gah!

Photo : Vicious Bits

They Farmers’ Museum has tons of awesome events like this all year round. Sweet succulent living history! They’ve also got a behind the exhibit scenes lecture series. Makes sense, what with the graduate program museum studies program in town. The lecture series is titled food for thought…when I have a chance, I’ll put something on the blog to count instances of this phrase that I find. (I admit I considered food for thought as a name for this blog.)

Anyway, next time you’re in Cooperstown, enjoy the Farmers’ Museum. And while you’re in town, you might inquire about other area museums. I heard they have one just dedicated to baseball!

**Note, for you readers who want to get your apiary on, but cannot attend the beekeeping workshop, try WC Harbison’s 1860 classic work Bees and Beekeeping. University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman mentioned this ‘bible of beekeeping’ a her speech on the value that full-text digital collections. Michigan’s hard copy was rarely used, but the scanned version in the Making Of America collection gets tons of views. Cool eh?**

Table manners is at a museum in Mesa, Arizona. Mesa is Spanish for table. Coincidence? Not Very Likely. The exhibit will be very hands on. Kids will learn to use chopsticks, fold napkins, etc. They’ll use the food pyramid to plan meals and create place settings.

The art on display will include metalwork, ceramic, prints, sculptures and more. Sounds like good family fun. For some reason, though, it makes me think of Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party. Is that weird?

Photo: zzzed

The Oceanside Museum of Art will be hosting a Culinary Cinema Series. The Union Tribune says they’ll be featuring menus too.

• May 3: “Big Night”
• Aug. 9: “Eat, Drink, Man, Woman”
• Sept. 27: “Babette’s Feast”
• Dec. 6: “Like Water for Chocolate”

Nice Choices. But for those who can’t make it to California, or won’t feel sated after four feature films, I’ve put together a small list of books about movies about food!

Food, Film and Culture: A Genre Study
James R. Keller, 2006

Food in Film: A Culinary Performance of Communication
Jane Ferry, 2003

Food in the Movies
Steve Zimmerman and Ken Weiss, 2005

Reel Food: Essays on Food and Film
Anne Bower, 2004

Reel Meals, Set Meals
Gaye Poole, 1999

I’ve looked at the books by Zimmerman and Bower I don’t really know how the rest are. I just remember browsing the stacks at the Van Pelt library and being amazed that there were multiple books about food movies. I had a vague idea that I might spend a year watching only food movies, but I have not yet made that happen.

The exhibit chronicles three hundred years of hunger relief efforts in Central Massachusetts. It sounds like quite an experience, according to this Worcester Telegram article.
Marking the 25th anniversary of the food bank, the exhibit takes a broad look at poverty and hunger in Massachussetts through legislation, institutions and attitudes. For example, Worcester no longer auctions off the poor for indentured servitude, as was once the case. Really a cool collaborative effort and a terrific way of inspiring reflection on and participation in an ongoing problem.