MOFAD is a non-profit organization that is both a concept and a 5,000 square-foot space in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY, the MOFAD Lab, that houses exhibits, food demonstrations, and a shop. The Lab is open only Friday through Sunday, 12-6 each day. General admission ranges from $7 for youth (children 5 and under are free) to $14 for adults and includes a small tasting sample as well as unlimited fortune cookies—a brilliant idea for those who like to have a choice of fortunes. A higher special admission is charged ($17-$25) for a meal that parallels the current exhibit on “Chow: Making the Chinese American Restaurant.” On my visit, the “Chow Down,” included dumplings with a wonderful fried chili topping, noodles, and congee remade to look like an American rice pudding sundae.
But, I’m getting ahead of myself. The museum is the brainchild of Dave Arnold, a food writer and inventor, who in 2005 asked: "Why isn't there a Smithsonian-scale museum of food and drink?" (There is one now, housed in the American History Museum, plus food is featured at the Museum of the American Indian, the African American Museum, and the Festival and programs by the Office of Folklife and Cultural Heritage.) He started working on his vision in 2011, was joined in 2012 by Peter Kim as executive director and volunteer Emma Boast, and opened a “museum on wheels” in 2013 that displayed an exhibit on cereal and held roundtables on food issues. The MOFAD Lab space opened in 2015.
The Museum’s motto is an idea most of us can applaud: “Food is Culture.” In their own words, it “ brings the world of food to life with exhibits you can taste, touch, and smell. We inspire public curiosity about food, what it means, and how it connects with the world around us.” The exhibits focus on different themes, including an installation on chickens, the puffing machine for turning grain into cereal, some miscellaneous artifacts and posters, and the extensive current one on Chinese American restaurants.
Just as the promotional material claims, this last exhibit successfully “celebrates the birth and evolution of Chinese American cuisine, tracing its 170-year history and sparking conversation about food culture, immigration, and what it means to be American. “ Entertaining, educational, and full of information clearly presented, it goes far beyond celebration, offering a history of Chinese Americans through their food. It is not an easy history. Like most immigrants, discrimination and racism shaped their initial experiences, and they continue to do so today. The historian Ronald Takaki referred to Asian Americans as “eternally foreign,” and this exhibit demonstrates how Chinese American culinary culture has responded to that perception of foreignness.
The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, for example, denied entry to laborers, but allowed special visas for students, teachers, diplomats, and merchants. In 1915, restaurateurs were considered merchants, and the number of Chinese restaurants quadrupled in some cities. Many of these played up the exoticness of the Orient in order to attract “American” customers and to prove that they were entrepreneurial enterprises—a good illustration of how public policy and popular sentiment shapes a food culture. The exhibit features restaurants, chefs, and cookbook writers that are key to this history.
The exhibit also dissects dishes that have become emblematic of Chinese American cuisine, particularly chop suey and fortune cookies, and includes fascinating summaries of other favorite dishes-- chow mien, General Tso’s chicken, egg rolls, and many others. This adds to the effectiveness of the museum as a whole. It focuses on food, acknowledging that many people know of other ethnic groups primarily through food; then without judging taste or ethics, demonstrates how that food can be a window into the experiences of individuals of that culture.
I came away from this exhibit with admiration for the endurance, tenacity, and flexibility of Chinese immigrants but also more awareness of the discrimination and “othering” that challenged them—and their culinary culture. From what I could see, so did other viewers, many of who seemed to be young (20s and 30s).Thought-provoking but also enjoyable—difficult orders for an exhibit to attain both. The developers, Emma Boast and Catherine Piccoli, are to be commended, and I look forward to seeing what else comes from this intriguing museum.
For more information, see:
