The Milwaukee Post

MILWAUKEE — Do you think about the food at the end of your fork? Where it came from? Who took part in growing, raising or preparing it? The Milwaukee Public Museum's latest exhibit shows what it took to make your food in the exhibit "Global Kitchen: Food, Nature, Culture." You might even have gone organic and vegan, but those workers growing your sustenance are still part of a food industry that employs more than 1 billion workers serving the 7.5 billion peo- ple on the planet. "Food affects everyone on the planet," local exhibit curator Martha Davis Kipcak said in a release. "We all eat. That's why this exhibit is so important. ... Meals are the places where families meet, business is conducted and where our senses are stimulated." While packed with num- bers — like the average American will eat 28 pigs in a lifetime — the exhibit also is hands-on. Or nose-on when it comes to the smelling stations with fen- nel, lavender and lemon. An interactive cooking table allows visitors to make well-known dishes from around the world. A big part of the New York-based American Museum of Natural History touring exhibit is food's global scope and impact. It looks at how dishes have evolved, including Korean kimchi with its sauerkraut fermenting in glass jars buried into the earth. It explores the complexi- ties of flavor. Taste tests with local farmers, chefs and nutritionists turn it into a tongue-on demonstra- tion. Getting it to a market remains a large part of the food puzzle. Food Ships is an interactive game that shows the challenges of transport- ing items like bananas, apples and tuna globally. "Global Kitchen" also goes back in time, featuring a re-creation of a 16th-cen- tury Aztec marketplace. During the exhibit that began this month and runs through July 19, visitors can also look forward to: ■ Discovering what a week's worth of groceries includes for families from 16 different countries. ■ Exploring common breakfast foods from around the world, such as Greek pancakes. ■ Looking at historic dishes, from Mohandas Ghandhi's childhood meal to Michael Phelps's Olympian-sized breakfast. "This is more than an exhibit," Davis Kipcak said. "It's a cultural experience that connects us to the rest of the world using our most common thread: food." The exhibit looks at the role food plays in culture, from colorful Ukrainian Easter eggs to sugar skulls in Mexico's Day of the Dead. The importance of feasts, such as Chinese New Year and Oktoberfest, is exam- ined. It also explores what hap- pens when we're done with our food. A waste sculpture contains the amount of food the average U.S. family of four wastes annually — 1,656 pounds — which leaves plenty of food for thought. March 17, 2017 • Milwaukee County Post • 15 ENTERTAINMENT Milwaukee Public Museum One display shows the amount of food an American family of four wastes annually. A 16th-century Aztec marketplace is one of the displays at the Milwaukee Public Museum's "Global Kitchen: Food, Nature, Culture" exhibition. Milwaukee Public Museum MPM serves up 'Global Kitchen' Elvis Fest to rock Serb Hall on Saturday MILWAUKEE — Elvis Fest will rock the Ultimate Legends Concert at 8 p.m. Saturday at American Serb Hall, 5101 W. Oklahoma Ave. There will be tributes to "early Elvis," "leather Elvis," "concert Elvis," Neil Diamond, the Blues Brothers, Roy Orbison, out- law country and rock 'n' roll. It stars Kavan, straight from the Branson Legends Show; Jesse Aron, national and local award-winning Elvis tribute artist; highly regarded Neil Diamond tribute artist, Eric Ebert; plus emcee Jimmy Prince. They're all backed by the Ultimate Legends Show Band. Tickets are $20 to $50 and are available at Serb Hall, 414-545-6030, or via PayPal at www.JimmyPrinceShow. com. For more information, call 414-327-6244. Vietnam War veteran to speak Monday BROOKFIELD — "Reflections of a Soldier, Vietnam 1968-1969" will be presented by the Elmbrook Historical Society at 7 p.m. Monday at the Brookfield Public Library, 2000 N. Calhoun Road. Army veter- an Michael Kastern will talk about his time as a sol- dier in Vietnam, the men he served with, and the Milwaukee Journal's Letters From Home printed in the Green Sheet in the 1960s and early 1970s. For more information, visit elmbrookhistoricalso- ciety.org. Navy Concert Band to perform Wednesday at the Marcus Center MILWAUKEE — The city will be one of 23 in nine states to host a performance by the United States Navy Band during its 2017 tour. The Concert Band will per- form at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, 929 N. Water St. There will be a variety of marches, patriotic selec- tions, orchestral transcrip- tions and modern wind ensemble repertoire. All of the Navy's primary performing units embark each year on concert tours in areas of the country that do not see its musical ensem- bles on a regular basis. All Navy Band perform- ances are free and open IN BRIEF

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