The Natural History Museum of Utah hosted its third annual ‘Food Fest’ on May 16 and 17 and shared how they bring new flavors to visitors and new opportunities to vendors each year.
This festival hosted local vendors such as Beehive Cheese Company, Caputo’s Market and Deli and White Lake Farms Honey, giving attendees a variety of flavors to learn about. “This is one of my favorite weekends of the year,” said Luke Gangi-Wellman, director of education at Caputo’s. “I get a chance to showcase the things I am excited about and see the joy on other people’s faces as they get the same experience.”
Mingling at the market
One of the festival’s main attractions, the food market, featured several local brands. Mark Johnston, marketing manager at the museum, called it “lively and delicious.” The market highlights “sweet and savory flavors not just in the Salt Lake area but throughout Utah,” he said.
Vendors said the market is an opportunity to connect with their communities. “What we care about is the community impact and the people we get to connect with,” said Gangi-Wellman. “That’s what matters.”
Some vendors said the festival also gives businesses a chance to give back to those who support them. “We like to sell at a reduced rate and this year in particular we are showing a new product” said Leif Derven, the sales director at Beehive Cheese.
Vendors said they appreciated visitors’ enthusiasm. Linsey Lesser from White Lake Farms Honey said it felt like an “up-scale farmers market.” She usually vends at regular markets, she said there is a different crowd that attends the food festival. “It’s really fun that here it is a bit more upscale with fine chocolates and cheeses,” she said.
Lesser also said she appreciated the variety of foods at this market. “You also get more international flavors here too,” she said. “Here you get the educated palate and the people who are appreciating quality.”
Take-home skills
Attendees had the opportunity to learn new skills at various workshops. “This is an educational institution,” said Johnston. “We want to teach people great, valuable things and in this case, we want to teach them how to make better foods.”
Derven said the festival’s workshops are important. “[They] are starting to show people that they can use cheese as an ingredient, not just on a charcuterie or cheese board. It’s a way to give back to the local community,” he said.
Workshops from this weekend included a class on making caramel apples, hosted by JulieAnn Caramels, and a class for cooking with foraged materials, like dandelions and dwarf mallow, hosted by Megan Bartley.
Mixing science and food
Another important element of the festival is the science learning, Johnston said. “You get to spend the day enjoying the festival, but then you can go meet our scientists in our galleries and learn about their research and what the museum is doing as far as research goes.”
Johnston emphasized that the food festival’s mission aligns with the museum’s mission. “The museum’s overall mission is to illuminate the natural world and the place of humans within it,” he said. “With an event like this, mission of the food festival is to broaden our opportunities as a natural history museum to speak about food history.”
