What will we be eating in 2050? Smithsonian"Food for Tomorrow" symposium (Nov. 5 & 6)!

An event Food for Tomorrow  presented in collaboration with the National Museum of American History Food and Wine History Project will be help Nov 5th and 6th at the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.
14th Street and Constitution Ave. NW, Washington DC 20560.

Most events are free ( some require tickets in advance) 

Message from the organizers :

Food for Tomorrow
A Lemelson Center Symposium at the National Museum of
American HistoryNovember 5 - 6, 2010
Join us for our annual New Perspectives on Invention and Innovation symposium. This year's event features an array of activities exploring the inventions and innovations that have shaped and will shape "Food for Tomorrow." Inventors, writers, historians, farmers, and scientists come together in conversations and demonstrations about ways that invention has been and still is part of our daily menu.
How do invention and innovation shape the ways we grow, prepare, and enjoy food? Discover the history and future of food and related technologies. Along the way, eat, drink, and learn!
Continue reading, or visit our website, for full program information.


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Friday, November 5; 6:30 to 9 p.m. Tickets required; Gen. Admission $20

For Starters: Truck Farm! Movie Sneak Peak & Homegrown Mixology
Filmmakers Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, the Peabody Award-winning co-creators of King Corn, Big River, and The Greening of Southie, discuss their newest film and show pre-release clips. Truck Farm! is the true story of urban farms taking root in America’s biggest city, from a self-sustaining Staten Island barge to a 6,000-square-foot market garden atop a Brooklyn roof. These and similar gardens are breathing new life into old cities. After the preview, master mixologists concoct garden-fresh libations accompanied by local bites.


Program:

Saturday, November 6
Visitors participate in hands-on activities related to food and food technology. Visitors can compete in the “Kitchen Gadget Showdown” to find out if a high-tech gadget works better or faster than its low-tech predecessor, taste test different salts, and share their innovative kitchen techniques. Kids and families can have fun with food science demos in Spark!Lab, and everyone will enjoy seeing food-related objects like from the NMAH collections.
11:00 - 11:30 Demos in Spark!Lab
11:00 - 2:00 Objects out of storage. 1 West
Noon - 12:30 Demos in Spark!Lab
Noon - 1:00 Salt tasting (cart). 1 West
1:00 - 1:30 Demos in Spark!Lab
1:30 - 2:30 Kitchen gadget showdown (cart). 1 West
2:00 - 2:30 Demos in Spark!Lab
3:00 - 3:30 Demos in Spark!Lab
3:00 - 4:00 Salt tasting (cart). 1 West
3:30 - 4:30 Kitchen gadget showdown (cart). 1 West

Ongoing activities:

Visitor feedback stations outside Spark!Lab and Carmichael Auditorium

• How do you solve food/kitchen problems?
• What’s the best snack you’ve invented?
• How are you innovative in the kitchen?

Scavenger hunt

Spark!Lab self-directed activities (10:00-4:00)

• Hydroponic gardening. Visitors can start their own small hydroponic garden--just like NASA--using seeds, polyfil, plastic cup, and water. We will talk about hydroponic farming as an innovative and efficient means of producing food.
• Bubble making using kitchen supplies. It will be a bit messy, but lots of fun.
• Crazy Crystals. With the crystals from various salts, we will show how inventors have created novel ways to preserve and cook food...and explain why prepared foods contain so much salt.