What's Cookin'?

2/12/2003

Hungry for learning and fun? Check out What's Cookin' at Historic Oak View County Park.

Oak View's new exhibit, "What's Cookin'?: Two Centuries of American Foodways," opens this Saturday and runs through May 31. The free event explores how the changing ways in which Americans choose to eat defines our emerging mix of ethnic heritage, family traditions, and regional customs.

As always, the exhibit is free and open to the public. Exhibit times are Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays, 1-4 p.m.

Organized by Rogers Historical Museum, Rogers, Arkansas, the exhibit explores such themes as food in pre-industrial America; the impact of immigration on food history; the ways technology has improved the availability of food; advances in food preparation at home; the increase in dining out; and changing images of what constitutes healthy eating.

In addition to the core exhibit, Oak View has produced a companion exhibit featuring the history of foodways here in North Carolina. For example, one panel of the exhibit focuses on chain of distribution; the companion display features North Carolina supermarkets. The exhibit also features several cases filled with North Carolina artifacts.

"This is a good exhibit for people who are interested in cooking, but it also has a lot of history in it," says Emily Catherman, Oak View Assistant Manager.

What's Cookin' kicks off this Saturday with Oak View Pottery Day, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This free event features potters from around the state, including Seagrove, Hillsborough, Raleigh, and Wake Forest. The artisans will be demonstrating their craft and displaying and selling their work.

Other special Saturday events associated with What's Cookin'? include:

• Women's History Day – Saturday, March 15, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. –
  Jean Anderson from Chapel Hill, author of the American Century Cookbook will be the featured speaker. Also included will be craft demonstrations, other local speakers and a period fashion show.

• Oak View Tea Party – Saturday, April 5, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. –
  Take tea on the front lawn of the Oak View House and learn the etiquette of the tea tradition.

• Culinary Arts Festival – Saturday, May 31, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. –
  Free pig-pickin', baking contest, and much more food-related fun on the final day of the exhibit.

This is the eighth year that Oak View has held special exhibits during the early months of the year.  Others included an exhibit of letters sent by soldiers during wartime, an exhibit linking art and agriculture, a Greek Revival exhibit, an exhibit with the biographies of 50 prominent North Carolinians, a photography exhibit focusing on the bond between community and the earth, a major pottery exhibit, and a very popular and well-attended Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit on the history of baseball.

Historic Oak View County Park is located in the Wake County Office Park, on Carya Drive, just off Poole Road at the I-440 Beltline (Exit 15), in Raleigh.  For more information, call Historic Oak View at 919-250-1013.