Museums, for as long as we’ve had them, have been places where we quantify the thousands of years of history that have come before us.  Artefacts, stories, fossils, exhibits – they’re all there – and each is designed to give us an insight into how our ancestors once lived, or the kinds of animals that once roamed the earth.  A museum is a place where slices of time are displayed for the public, where we have the chance to learn and understand how far we’ve come as a species.

If there is one overlooked niche that you don’t often come across in museums, it has to be food. While food has undoubtedly played an incredibly vital part of mankind’s entire history, from the earliest records to our modern civilisation today, it’s often not considered as important as the bigger, more interesting things that our ancestors left behind.  

There is a museum, however, located in Austin that provides an in-depth view of culinary history collected from cultures scattered all over the planet.  It’s a journey that shows you the science behind agriculture, how different societies made use of food, and how it’s shaped the world in more ways than we could even begin to realise.  This is the Bullock Texas State History Museum, and it’s a place that anyone with an interest in food, history, or both, need to see at least once in their lifetime. The museum makes use of an educational show-and-tell called, “Our Global Kitchen” and it’s like nothing else in the world.

Our Global Kitchen

Once you’ve booked to experience the exhibition, you are first met with an introductory video. This video outlines the basics of the exhibition, giving you an idea of what to expect as the entire thing plays out.  Next, the guests are asked to move through the interactive multimedia displays, each one showing a different part of our culinary history. It’s as interactive and exciting as the online betting NZ has to offer, only perhaps a bit more educational.

From an Aztec diorama showing how their food markets worked, to a massive collection of ancient cookbooks, to a variety of old utensils that our ancestors used, to the various crops and plants that historic civilisations made use of throughout the ages.  There’s even a virtual cooking table perfect for the kids where they can interact directly with the kinds of cooking practices once used long before we had the use of ovens and fridges.

For the history buffs, there are endless volumes of information to absorb, especially as they make their way through the high-quality and detailed reproductions of an array of dining rooms and kitchens that famous figures from throughout history made use of. The kitchen of Jane Austin or Kublai Khan, for example, can give you an intimate insight into what these people experienced in their day-to-day lives.

It’s all about informing the public and giving them a wider perspective to understand just how we all once lived at different stages of history.  It’s an exhibit like no other available in Austin, and because of it’s travelling nature, you can choose when to learn more about the ways in which humanity has treated its food since the dawn of civilization.