Exhibit curates Iowa’s culinary history

Iowans have been drinking coffee for a long, long time.

That's just one takeaway from 'The Land Provides: Iowa's Culinary History,” an exhibit on display through Aug. 1 at the Old Capitol Museum in Iowa City.

'I consume massive amounts of coffee every day, but I did not expect my heritage stretching so far back to be intertwined with coffee,” says Colleen Theisen, a specialist librarian at the University of Iowa Main Library's Special Collections.

She helped curate the exhibit, which includes culinary artifacts on loan from cultural heritage museums around Iowa. Among them are coffee grinders, including a grinder dated to 1708 and brought to Iowa from Norway in 1850 by Elisabeth Koren, one of the state's early immigrants.

'From beer barrels to egg mixers to coffee, the way we eat now has its roots in this history,” Theisen says.

Part of the UI's 'Food for Thought” themed semester, the exhibit includes profiles of Iowa settlers, describing the role food production played in their lives.

'Today we're so disconnected to where our food comes from. Back then it was daily life. They would churn their own butter and raise chickens for their eggs,” says Kathrine Moermond, museum education and outreach coordinator.

The exhibit was funded by an $8,000 Silos and Smokestacks Heritage Area grant, with matching UI funds.

Artifacts like a cast iron stove, a giant bread board and paddles for stirring apple butter illuminate snippets of early settlers' lives.

'We hope to help draw a better picture of what their life was like and how connected they were to preparing food, how intertwined they were with it,” Moermond says.

Photos of edible plants early settlers would have found in Iowa are part of the display. Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, which preserves and grows these heritage plants, provide the photos, printed on large banners that hang over the exhibit.

Before European immigrants arrived, Native Americans were growing and cooking those plants. The exhibit starts with a quote from Meskwaki Chief Poweshiek to the Iowa City Council in 1838, lamenting the loss of his people's land.

'We wanted to highlight the food history in a positive light but put it in the context of why all of this is possible,” Theisen says. 'The unfortunate message is the settlers arrived to all this beautiful land because suddenly it didn't belong to the Native Americans anymore.”

Deciding what to include in the display was difficult, she says, because there was simply so much they could have talked about.

'Food is everything,” she says. 'It's really an overwhelming story to try to tell,” she says.

The exhibit also includes cookbooks and recipes from the Special Collections Szathmary Culinary Collection. The UI's collection includes 12,000 items, including hundreds of handwritten cookbooks by early settlers.

Volunteers from around the world have transcribed digital scans of the handwritten recipes through the UI's DIY History project.

Moermond and other members of Iowa City's Historic Foodies club have recreated some of those recipes and translated them for modern cooks because instructions that may have been obvious to pioneer cooks - like 'bake in the usual way” - have been lost to time. Moermond is curating a YouTube channel, 'The Land Provides: Iowa's Culinary History,” to help illustrate some of those techniques and recipes. A semester's worth of related programming, from cooking classes to culinary tours, also offers a window into Iowa's history.

'I have this draw to culinary history,” Moermond says. 'It's a way for me to step back in time.”

RELATED PROGRAMING

The Land Provides: Iowa's Culinary History

Where: Old Capitol Museum, Hanson Humanities Gallery, 1 N. Clinton St., Iowa City

When: On display through Aug. 1 during regular museum hours Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursdays 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Cost: Free

IOWA'S CULINARY HISTORY LECTURE

What: Professor David Faldet - author of 'Oneota Flow,” UI alumnus and professor at Luther College in Decorah - has extensively researched early Iowa immigrant Elisabeth Koren. Faldet will present an illustrated talk that focuses on food traditions using some of the materials from the Vesterheim collection, as well as talk about the cabin in which the Korens first lived. Faldet will present period photos, drawings and contemporary photos of the Iowa natural landscape to recreate a sense of what Koren saw in the early life in Iowa she recorded in her diary. Light refreshments will be provided.

Where: Old Capitol Museum, Supreme Court Chamber, 1 N. Clinton St., Iowa City

When: 6:30 to 8 p.m. March 12

Cost: Free

IN THE KITCHEN WITH LAURA

What: Sarah Uthoff will mix stories and information about Laura Ingalls Wilder's life with food history and hands-on cooking. During the program, volunteers on stage will mix a batch of biscuits, make ginger water, grind wheat and more.

Where: Old Capitol Museum, 1 N. Clinton St., Iowa City

When: 6:30 p.m. March 26

Cost: Free

IOWA'S CULINARY HISTORY KIDS COOKING CLASSES

What: Each cooking class will focus on a different technique that may have been used by one of the early Iowa pioneers profiled in the exhibit. Participants will take a look at early Iowa history and experience its flavor.

Where: Public Space One, 120 N. Dubuque St., Iowa City

When: 3 to 5 p.m. April 9 and 30, May 21, June 11, July 9 and 30.

Cost: $5 suggested donation per participant

For more information: Space is limited. The class is geared toward kids ages 5 and up. Call Kathrine Moermond at (319) 335-0546 to register.

FAMILY FOLK MACHINE

What: Led by conductor Jean Little-John, this concert will feature selections about spring, gardening and food. Light refreshments will be provided following the concert.

Where: Old Capitol Museum, Senate Chamber, 1 N. Clinton St., Iowa City

When: 2:30 to 4 p.m. April 12

Cost: Free

WALKING FOOD TOUR OF IOWA CITY

What: Museum studies student Rachel Wobeter will present a walking tour of Iowa City's food history, guiding participants through a number of Iowa City's historical food spots. The tour will stop at four Iowa City restaurants for samples.

Where: Start at the Old Capitol Museum, 1 N. Clinton St., Iowa City

When: 1 to 3 p.m. April 18 and 19

Cost: $15 suggested donation. Preregistration is required.