Beyond the Nanaimo bar, Nanaimo’s culinary history is not widely renowned, but a new museum exhibit created by Vancouver Island University students could be the recipe to alter that perception.
During the spring semester, students from Chelsea Horton’s history of Vancouver Island class and Katharine Rollwagen’s public history class collaborated to create ‘Beyond the Bar: Sampling Nanaimo’s Culinary Past.’
Rollwagen’s class designed the exhibit, while Horton’s class undertook the bulk of the research, according to a VIU press release.
“As a lifelong Nanaimo resident and food lover, researching the city’s historical gastronomy has been a real treat,” said student Samadhi Sukadana in the release. “I hope guests join in our culinary curiosity and find something in the exhibit to chew on.”
This is Horton’s first collaboration to produce an exhibit for the museum and she said she’s proud of her class.
“What a joy to walk with students as they each found their way into the broad, yet fundamental, topic of food, and to see how the diverse research reports they developed have informed the interconnected stories shared here,” the prof said.
Rollwagen’s classes have previously created Nanaimo Museum exhibits that include Nanaimo’s experience of the Spanish flu and and the history of Nanaimo’s unique road names. For this latest project, students worked closely with Aimee Greenaway, Nanaimo Museum curator, and Jordan Johns, exhibit technician, to learn about the educational roles of museums and their responsibility to the historical record.
“This is a unique learning experience for history students,” Johns said. “By creating a community exhibit with their class they have the opportunity to learn from museum professionals in the exhibit development process. This gives the students insight into other history-related career paths by giving them solid experience and instruction.”
“Food is such an important part of our lives, but we often don’t think about where it comes from,” said student Borna Zargarian. “What did past Nanaimoites eat and how did they access it? This exhibit should answer those questions.”
Beyond the Bar is on display at the museum until June 26 and can be viewed Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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