Key Ingredients traveled to the Missouri communities of Sainte Genevieve, Salem, Butler, Webb City, Sullivan, and Maryville in 2005.

We connect feelings with food remembered and anticipated, from chocolate and romance to the comfort foods of our individual childhoods, hot dogs at the park to the upcoming dinner we are cooking for or going out to attend.

Food is fuel and nutrition, it is too much and too little. Food is connected to memory of places and people, times of the year, and special events. It is a common thread that runs through our lives and connects us in community.

Each year the Smithsonian Museum, our national museum in Washington D.C., offers a touring exhibit with a theme that engages and provokes in a decidedly American vernacular. Key Ingredients: America by Food is this year's exhibition from Museum on Main Street program from Smithsonian Institution's Traveling Exhibition Services (SITES).

Curated by Charley Camp, Key Ingredients examines regional food traditions across the country, focusing on diversity of foods, and the local history and customs associated with them. This 750 square foot exhibition, designed to accommodate the needs of small rural museums, will entertain and educate.

The exhibit is only a stepping off point, a recipe, for creating a community wide discussion. Read Barbara Gibbs Ostmann's Key Ingredients article. And as related workshops, lectures, and events are scheduled in host communities, we'll keep you informed through our website.

The six Missouri cities that hosted this exhibit were: Sainte Genevieve, Salem, Butler, Webb City, Sullivan, and Maryville

Even if you can't visit the exhibit as it travels across America, you can still participate in several activities through the Smithsonian website, www.keyingredients.org.

The American Cookbook Project solicits and presents great American family recipes and the stories behind them, and you can also vote for your favorites. Browse by geographic area, story, or even state.

Eating Across America packs up the picnic basket and takes you along to all 150 locations hosting this exhibit, where you can check out the local ingredients and see where the best eats are to be found.

500 Years of American Food is a multimedia presentation which travels from Colonial America to today, from east through to west, from everyday to special occasion.

Exhibit Guide for Teachers:
Explore the themes of the exhibition, discover local food traditions, and participate in your community events. This guide includes five classroom lessons as well as a scavenger hunt for students to use during their visit to the exhibition.

updated 9/25/07