Food - The "Key" to Life

"American Food- not real recipes, just a few Key Ingredients constantly stirred by time." Tomorrow kicks off the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit, Key Ingredients - America by Food, at our very own Renton Historical Museum. In the Puget Sound area, only our town will host this program along with an exhibit created wholly based on the history of food in Renton, Sustaining a City, researched and created by Liz Stewart and Sarah Iles of the museum. This is very exciting folks! Saturday, March 21 from 10am - 7pm the Grand Opening of the exhibit will feature a live broadcast with Kiro Radio 97.3 "In the Kitchen with Tom and Thierry". This radio show just had it's 5th year anniversary and stars local chef Tom Douglas (of Dahlia Lounge and 5 other local hotspots fame) and chef Thierry (known as the Chef with the Hat).

The exhibit is really well written and fun to explore. This would be a great opportunity for you and the family to introduce yourselves to a local treasure that is all to often overlooked or unknown, the Renton Historical Museum. Since this is an exhibit that is run in coordination between the Smithsonian and Humanities Washington, the price is right - suggested donation. This outing can fit any one's budget. And there are lots of great programs from now until May 9, the last day of Key Ingredients, to keep you entertained.



Members Only Exhibition Opening - Wear Your Apron!!
Thursday, March 26, 5:00 - 7:00 pm

Closing the Food Gap- talk and book signing with Mark Winne
Saturday, April 4, 3:00 - 4:00 pm
Carco Theater Adults/$10, students/$5

3 Feet Under : Digging Deep for the Geoduck Clam
Thursday, April 16, 4:30 - 5:30 pm
Film Screening at Carco Theater Adults/students/$5

An Afternoon with Greg Atkinson - talk and book signing
Thursday, May 7, 4:30 - 5:30 pm
Carco Theater Adults/$10, students/$5

Tickets can be purchased at the Museum ahead of time.

Viewing this exhibit will make you wonder about what American food is and why you and your family have the food traditions that you do. When my family first came to Renton back in the 70's, we kids went to St. Anthony's and our Mom worked many hours assisting in the office, running the mimeograph machine (no copiers back then) and helping coordinate the yearly recipe books. One year, our living room rug was covered in various pages as my Mom meticulously assembled by hand these donated recipes and family favorites into order. We inherited a new tradition in those years, that still persists today - the Pizzelle Cookie.

Our family is not Italian, we did not have this as standard cookie fare - until my Mom's buddy in the school office taught her the intricacies of making this delicate anise flavored morsel. 30 years later - my Mom is on her second pizzelle iron and makes this family favorite at Christmas time, storing these fragile wonders in coffee cans. This particular cookie is very time consuming to make - really, a labor of love. And it came to us from here, from Italian Renton roots - and it grew into a family memory that perseveres even today. I find that amazing. Food, family meals, the sense of smell - huge repositories of sacred moments of our lives.

Renton Historical Museum 235 Mill Ave. South Renton, Wa
(425) 255-2330 / email : info@rentonhistory.org

Thanks to The Journeyman Cook on Flickr for the pizzelle pic - all the rest are mine!