Can Museums Have Their Cake and Eat it Too?

Abstract

The role museums and food take in society is driven by their influence on culture and the individual. Museums guide the visitor to expand their perspective about museums through how the objects are displayed. Food is a result of culture, proved authentic by those with firsthand experience. Food can represent a culture based on its prevalence in daily life as well as the culture’s history. By incorporating food as an object, museums have the opportunity to increase cultural and artistic visibility for visitors. Unlike art objects that require preservation, food can be an art object rooted in its impermanence. Using food as a museum object can incite a sense of welcoming within a museum because it blurs high art, history, and daily commodity, three areas of a society that are usually distinguished separately.