Review: FOOD: Our Global Kitchen

Food is a big deal in our house, with “What’s for dinner?” consistently the question of the day. For a different perspective on food, my boys (ages 15, 12 and 7) and I headed to “FOOD: A Global Kitchen” at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History.

The exhibit is full of interactive displays, videos and artifacts that tell the story of food, including cultivation, sustainability and distribution. Displays show worldwide food staples (a huge cassava root) and how humans are changing food (cube-shaped watermelons).

My kids enjoyed checking out the smelling stations to get a whiff of spices such as cinnamon, ginger and their favorite: chocolate. The smelling stations explain how these spices are used in specific dishes to make them unique and delicious.

Our other favorite part of the exhibit was the interactive cookbook, a large touch screen divided into quarters where you can see how various recipes are made. You can touch the screen to see the next step in the recipe all the way through to the end result.

Impressive life-size displays make this Global Kitchen unique and educational. Among these displays are a 16th century Aztec marketplace and life size dining rooms for contemporaries of Kublai Khan, Jane Austen and Livia Drusilla. Each room had a table laid out with typical meals of that period.

We also enjoyed the many other exhibits at Fernbank: Nature Quest, an immersive and interactive play area that shows different ways to explore nature; Walk Through Georgia; Sensing Nature, and Wildwoods (all included with admission).

Families can make a full day visit to Fernbank by eating lunch at the Fernbank Café or one of the family-friendly restaurants in nearby Candler Park.

– Yolanda Veith

Take a journey around the world and through time on an exploration of food’s history and the role it plays among cultures around the world. Stroll through an ancient market, cook a virtual meal and more. Through Aug. 19. Daily 10 a.m.-5 p.m. $20; ages 3-12, $18; ages 2 and younger, free.