“Our Heritage Hearth: From Field to Farm”

“Our Heritage Hearth: From Field to Farm”
Exploring The Roots of Valley Cooking From Garden to Table.
Mid- September until Mid-December 2018
kingscountymuseum.ca

Before the rise of the “Farm to Table” movement there was our “Heritage Hearth.” Even with the dramatic changes to food processing and storage in the middle part of the last century, traditional gardening techniques and methods of preparing and serving food remained very much alive in Valley kitchens. Recipes for favourite dishes were kept and shared and passed down from generation to generation in cherished handwritten cookbooks. This exhibition celebrates those traditions and the people that utilized them.

Visitors will be able to “step back in time” while visiting a country kitchen (c. 1940s), viewing where our mothers or grandmothers prepared the meals that sustained future generations. In the pioneering days of cooking over the hearth, cooking information and techniques were passed from one generation to the next by word of mouth. As changes in technology and preparation evolved so to did the growth of the publication of cookbooks. In a part of the exhibit entitled “A Recipe for Success: Cookbooks Which Preserved Our Culinary Traditions,” different types of cookbooks will be shared, from the standards found in every kitchen, to examples of promotional cookbooks.

A private collection of crockery and items reflective of the tradition of pickling and preservation will sit cheek to jowl with “Harvesting the Bounty From the Fields,” which will feature gardening tools from the collection of Allison Magee. The grounds of the museum were turned into a garden of heritage flowers and vegetables over the summer in preparation for this exhibit, and the eye-catching array earned the museum the “David White Visions of Kentville Award” from the Kentville Business Community in July.

The Kings Historical Society is pleased to partner with the Devour! The Food Film Fest to feature a number of short films curated by them which will be shown throughout the duration of the exhibition. The official launch of the exhibition is scheduled for Monday October 22, with a planned showing of Aube Giroux’s film Modified. The film will be introduced by cookbook author Jenny Osburn. Details will be released on our website and through the media closer to the event. Join us for this celebration of our founding culinary history.