What's Cooking, Uncle Sam?

Plan a visit to Washington, D.C., before the end of the year and you’ll catch “What’s Cooking, Uncle Sam? The Government’s Effect on the American Diet,” a fascinating exhibit that explores our nation’s complex love affair with food. Located in the Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery of the National Archives Building until January 3, 2012, the exhibit walks you through the government’s extraordinary efforts, successes and failures to change our eating habits, from Revolutionary War rations to Cold War cultural exchanges. While some of the exhibit is sobering, other parts are entertaining, from the perspective of Depression-era farmers and Upton Sinclair’s original letter to Theodore Roosevelt on the hazards of the meatpacking industry to Uncle Sam’s “wife” Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes and Jacqueline Kennedy’s menus for State dinners.

 Some other tidbits you’ll learn at the exhibit:

• How donuts can improve morale
• Queen Elizabeth’s recipe for scones
• The dangers of canned meat, ketchup and candy at the time of the Industrial Revolution

Food lovers and history buffs alike will enjoy this exhibit. It’s an excellent opportunity to examine letters, diaries, photos, maps, petitions, films, patents and proclamations from the National Archives food-related collection. Gift-shop goodies—including a special exhibition catalog, recipe books, apparel and dishware—will be for sale in the Archives Shop. All proceeds support the National Archives Experience and educational programming at the National Archives.—Denise Shoukas

Watch a Video About the Exhibit 

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