Two Vancouver Island University classes have cooked up a plan to highlight Nanaimo’s culinary history with a new museum exhibit.
VIU says the event was a collaboration between Dr. Chelsea Horton and Dr. Katharine Rollwagen’s combined history classes to create the exhibit titled “Beyond the Bar: Sampling Nanaimo’s Culinary Past.”
According to a media release, Rollwagen’s class designed the exhibit including revising research reports, organizing the layout and developing a publicity plan, while Horton’s class conducted the research informing the exhibit.
VIU student Samadhi Sukadana says working on the exhibit has been a great experience and considers it a complement to their field of study.
“As a lifelong Nanaimo resident and food lover, researching the city’s historical gastronomy has been a real treat,” Samadhi says. “I hope guests join in our culinary curiosity and find something in the exhibit to chew on.”
Horton says watching students explore their passion is rewarding and heartwarming.
“What a joy to walk with students as they each found their way to the broad, yet fundamental topic of food,” she says. “To see how the diverse research reports they developed have informed the interconnected stories shared here. I am proud of them all.”
The exhibit opened on Apr. 20 and will run until June 26 in the Nanaimo Museum’s Community Gallery, it’s free for all to attend.
