The virtual exhibition that I chose to visit is the one at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, exploring the American food culture from the second half of the twentieth century up to the present day. The exhibition presents five different sections, each of which is devoted to exploring a particular phenomenon. Julia Child’s Kitchen explores the impact that a legendary cook Julia Child made on the way Americans viewed cooking, transforming the art of cookbooks and becoming one of the biggest television stars along the way. New and Improved! The section provides insight into how attitudes about an improved way of living alongside new technologies influenced the food culture in postwar America. Resetting the Table expands on various sources that contributed to the Americans’ thoughts and feelings about food – from immigrants’ cultures to activists’ principles of life. Brewing a Revolution speaks about brewing in the United States, and Wine for the Table communicates how with no wine traditions beforehand, America eventually sparked a revolution in the wine industry in the 20th century.
When it comes to identifying the fields of social studies this exhibition is related to, it is linked to communication studies and history. By visiting different sections and reading about factors contributing to the alterations in American food culture, one develops an understanding of how important it is for us to communicate with one another. Without ideas brought by Americans to their country from abroad and unique manifestations of different cultures that immigrants aim to preserve, it is hard to imagine how scarce modern American cuisine could be. That is why the section I found especially thrilling was Resetting the Table – it tells the story of how immigrants opened up new doors for the residents of the United States in terms of products, flavors, and ways of cooking. Additionally, it explains how various occurrences, such as the phenomenon of dieting, political movements, and countercultures, all affected food culture in their respective times. I was surprised to find out how much historical events affected what and how Americans ate. It really gives a perspective on how interconnected all spheres of our lives are, which is fascinating.
Such exhibitions are a genuine find for implementation in my future classroom. These virtual field trips are essentially a history lesson, but with information delivered in a non-traditional classroom way – it is like a trip down memory lane. The way in which the exhibition’s format can be used is to encourage intergenerational communication. Since all information provided covers the second half of the 20th century, parents and grandparents of students, as well as other relatives, are certain to remember these times. Home assignments may include family members sharing their stories or giving feedback on how events covered in the exhibition have affected their lives in terms of eating culture. In this way, students are to remember this lesson’s contents since they will have a sort of a personal connection to at least some of the information.
In my opinion, students tend to be engaged in what they are presented with when information is delivered in an entertaining way. Exhibitions such as Food: Transforming the American Table are great at capturing a student’s attention while giving them a unique history lesson. When one looks at photographs capturing processes that resulted in a cultural phenomenon or familiarizes themselves with images of artifacts of a particular time period, they are likely to not look away. At least less likely than while listening to a lecture – no matter how interesting – or reading a paragraph in a book. Therefore, such virtual field trips are incredibly useful in a classroom.