The 5 Coolest Exhibits At The New Museum of Food & Drink
This one-of-a-kind machine is a serious show-stopper.
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As one of the food capitals of the world, it's crazy to think there wasn't a permanent large-scale food museum in New York City until now (remember the French Fry Museum?).
Delish got the chance to check out the new Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD) in Brooklyn for the grand opening to get the inside scoop. Museum founder, Dave Arnold, along with Eater and Vox Media to put together these historical and insane hands-on elements in MOFAD's first exhibit Flavor: Making It and Faking It that are the first of their kind. It's safe to say this place is a sensory overload.
Get your tickets here.
The Puffing Gun
This 3,200-pound cereal-puffing machine is not currently a working part of the museum, but it was on display because it was part of MOFAD's first temporary exhibition, BOOM! The Puffing Gun and the Rise of Cereal in 2013. This thing is pretty hard to miss and you have this beast to thank for your Rice Krispies and other crazy cereal favorites.
The Smell Synth
This exhibit stole the show in our opinion. It's all about the creation of real and artificial flavor and smell. It features 19 individual scent options. You can press multiple buttons at the same time to make any combination you can think of. The options include orange, almond, butter, nail polish remover and lavender aromas. Combine nail polish remover and orange and get orange soda—not quite what you might think would make up an artificial orange scent.
Tasting Tablets
These dispensers appear throughout the museum, so this is where the hands-on learning comes in. Twist the dials like a old-school gum ball machine to release sample tablets of salt, citric acid, MSG, vanilla, mushroom or tomato pellets that go along with the exhibits (don't worry, it's free ... three per visitor, though).
Smell Machines
There are six different stations throughout the exhibit on top of the Smell Synth. These machines focus on the difference between real and artificial flavor smells. Press the button to release the fragrance through the vents. Here, visitors can smell the difference between strawberry flavorings that come from either ripe strawberries or "jam-y" ones.
At another smell machine station, MOFAD includes smell buttons of citrus, cinnamon and vanilla that make up part of the super-secret Coca Cola formula.
Visual Samples
Throughout the museum there are actual artifacts related to the topic of choice. In the display about synthetic and real vanilla flavoring and extract, there are actual samples of pine bark, cloves, coal and paper pulp that were all apparently once a source of vanillin—the key compound in vanilla flavoring and smells.
There are even historical artifacts all over the show room. We're talkin' vintage salt-shakers and old-school advertisements. The museum is the perfect place for the food-obsessed to geek out without shame.
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