The #FoodPeople Exhibition at the Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci, Milano

Established in 1953, the Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia “Leonardo da Vinci” (hereafter Museo) is the largest science museum in Italy.¹ One of its main attractions is the collection of models of Leonardo da Vinci’s machines, prepared in 1952–53 on the occasion of the five hundredth anniversary of his birth.² However, the main focus is on the period from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, and much attention is paid to contemporary science and technology. In fact, the Museo is well in tune with the prevailing trend toward blending, under the same roof, a traditional museological approach and a constantly evolving form of science center. Thus the museum offers its visitors, alongside the exploration of the historic heritage displays in the galleries, the possibility of engaging in hands-on activities in its thirteen interactive laboratories.

The hosting in Milan of the Universal Exposition in 2015 on the theme “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life” provided the Museo with an obvious opportunity for creating a new permanent gallery. Nutrition had already been the subject of a temporary exhibition; building on that experience, when the theme of the expo was officially announced, the museum started planning a permanent one. So a few days before the opening of the exposition, the Museo inaugurated this most recent section entitled #FoodPeople, with a telling tagline, “The exhibition for people eager for innovation.” The choice of the title #FoodPeople deserves attention: two distinct characteristics can be drawn from it. The hashtag symbol is ubiquitous in digital social media and instantly links any word/phrase/piece of information to a set of metadata. The symbol is then followed by the compound noun “Food-People,” which conjures up an immediate image of people interacting with food. So we have a symbol to forge linkages and a neologism that doubly qualifies food and people, thereby rendering the title as an amalgamation of possibilities for an innovative exhibition on the relationship between food and people. Does the exhibition succeed in justifying its creative title?

There is certainly not a shortage of food-themed museums in Italy; in fact, over the past two decades there has been a proliferation of such exhibitions. Typical products such as pasta, ham, ice cream, and wine are exhibited in small, specialized museums, some promoted and supported by local authorities, others the result of private initiatives. Most of them have been set up near the original place of production, combining historical traditions and commercial interests, closely related to the ever-expanding sector of culinary/cultural tourism.³ The #FoodPeople gallery does not partake in the spirit and motivation of those museums. The themes that resound in the exhibition are those on which the 2015 expo was based, especially the development of innovative solutions in agricultural production and consumption. The museological approach and style recall initiatives launched by other national museums, most notably the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum in Ottawa. In fact, the core theme is nutrition, and the changes that took place in the production, processing, and consumption of food over the past 150 years.

The exhibition takes the viewpoint of the various individuals engaged in the production and consumption of foodstuffs: farmers and researchers involved in the development and implementation of new agricultural technologies; people involved in the processing and production phases of the food chain; and individuals and communities whose patterns of consumption combine elements of tradition and novelty. The aim is to link together the parallel and interconnected changes that took place in the social, cultural, and economic history of food consumption and those that emerged from the scientific and technological developments of the methods of production and processing. As the curators are keen to point out, some of these actors, especially at the consumer level, were involved in co-curatorial work, participating in the planning and realization of parts of the exhibition.

The entire exhibition occupies over seven hundred square meters of ground floor space in the main building of the museum, close to the...