Food Unites Us - an exhibit

Food Unites Us - a new exhibit at the Renton Historical Museum, will open tomorrow and run through the middle of September. This is a year of looking at how food touches our lives and creates new traditions at the museum. You will recall that not too long ago, the museum was the host to the traveling Smithsonian exhibit "Key Ingredients" (link here). I loved the tag line for that show "American Food- not real recipes, just a few Key Ingredients constantly stirred by time."

For this exhibit, the students of the English as a Second Language Program (ESL) at the Renton Technical College have come together with the museum to share their own native countries' food customs and show their ever growing knowledge of English. Moldova, Belarus, Mexico, Vietnam - the list of countries is as intriguing as the handmade pictures and stories that accompany them. All new immigrants, most in the US for less than 5 years - spanning the globe and looking to learn our language and find their way in a vastly different culture than the one they originally knew as home. The sharing of food can always break down the barriers and make new friends of strangers.

My personal favorite at the exhibit is the big, colorful board that is entitled "Sharing Wisdom with Fruit". Who knew that there were so many cute and funny colloquialisms regarding fruit and human behavior? I learned a few new ones that I would like to quickly put to use.

I have always wanted to call someone a "Mango Head" - and now I will do exactly that, but in Ethiopian, thank you.

Cost for this exhibit is the same as entry into the Museum itself - $3 for adults, $1 Students (8-16). Members - free.

Renton Historical Museum 235 Mill Ave. South Renton, Wa
(425) 255-2330 / email : info@rentonhistory.org
Hours - Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am - 4 pm
http://www.rentonhistory.org/