Insatiable: Cooking Up Innovation explores the remarkable story of the evolution of how humans transform food into astonishing culinary delights. Through hands-on interactives and a display of ‘firsts’ – first iron stoves, electric ovens, toasters – and past and present state-of-the-art gadgets, visitors of all ages are immersed in the science, technology, engineering, and math that we apply to create the perfect art – food.

Highlights Include:

• Interactive stations where visitors can experience materials science, cooking gadgets, heat science, and more
• A selection of historical objects from miSci’s collection, including world first kitchen gadgets
• Historical and contemporary images from miSci’s archives
• Profiles on how different imaging techniques captured different details

SECTION ONE: From Hearths to Induction & Ovens to Microwaves: The Explosion of Culinary Opportunity
This section features a timeline of cooking presented through a display of cooking appliances – from the clay pot to the microwave. A diverse collection of objects reveals how humans first utilized fire, started cooking with stoves, and how cooking methods expanded with the electrification of homes.

SECTION TWO: Extending Menus: The Storage and Shipping Phenomena
Food storage has come a long way from smoking, drying, and salting. Today, we vacuum-pack, dehydrate, and preserve food with more than 10,000 human-made chemicals. Our ability to increase the shelf life of food has altered the way we eat, making modern cities and grocery stores possible. Punctuated by items from miSci’s collection of food storage vessels, refrigerators and freezers, this section explores our ever-evolving ability to store and preserve food.

SECTION THREE: Gadgets Galore: An Invitation to Chef-dom!
Humans have been making cooking implements for every conceivable kitchen task for millennia. In this section, we explore how electricity transformed kitchen gadgetry into an engineered art form and how manufacturers entice home chefs to indulge in new cooking methods. Items from miSci’s historical collection are presented alongside modern conveniences.

SECTION FOUR: The Science and the Repeatability Factor
Harriet Beecher Stowe and her sister Catherine launched the “Domestic Science Movement” in the mid-1800s. Fifty years later, Fannie Merritt Farmer published her first cookbook that featured the national standardized measurements she championed. In this section, visitors learn how the standardization of measuring ingredients, temperature, and time launched the home chef revolution. Guests also explore how evolving materials and techniques for cooking have changed our culinary pursuits. Included in this section are selections from miSci’s collection of cookbooks and classic measuring devices.

LEARNING GOALS

Visitors to Insatiable will learn that:

• Modern cooking technologies are a result of a long history of innovation and problem solving that continues today
• Solving problems related to the preparation and storage of food has resulted in the development of a wide variety of practices and technologies
• Changing needs and desires continue to affect how we use and develop current cooking technologies