By Hiba Giacoletto
You will never think the same way about what’s healthy and what’s not following the Alimentarium’s new exhibition, DÉTOX. Nutrition: What do you believe?, which just opened in Vevey.
The exhibition takes you on a journey through five different themes - Body, Nutrition, Diets, Beliefs and Milk - revealing nutritional beliefs stemming from Antiquity to those that influence us today.
The vision behind DÉTOX. Nutrition: What do you believe? is for the visitor to ‘detoxify’ from intoxicating beliefs about food by experiencing how different cultures and historical periods have believed such vastly different things about whether a food is healthy or not. Did you know for example that fresh fruit was considered dangerous for the delicate constitution of the nobility at one point in history?
Fully utilizing the latest technologies, the museum allows visitors to use their smartphones or tablets provided by the museum to find out more about objects that are scattered throughout the exhibition.
Children in particular will love all the games that help bring the information to life. These include video games and interactive touch screens, which help educate children or ask them questions about what they have just seen. In one of the areas, the Milk Bar, which showcases our relationship to milk across history, you can find out which animal’s milk is drinkable for humans by playing around with toy figures to answer questions such as: Is a giraffe’s milk drinkable for humans?
In the spirit of not taking information too seriously, most of the exhibits have an object that is clearly out of place or fake - see if you can spot them!
The exhibition is artfully presented with explanations in French, and you can get a booklet with all the translations in English or German at the ticket desk.
DÉTOX. Nutrition: What do you believe? leaves you with the impression that our perception of what is healthy or unhealthy is ephemeral and that the only constant throughout history and across cultures is change.
If you do go, don’t miss the vegetable and herb garden outside the museum with old and new plant varieties or the museum restaurant with its innovative dishes.
If you can’t make it, you can check out 360 degree views of objects that are part of the exhibition with explanations in English through the Museum's eCollection: http://www.ealimentarium.ch/en/objects.
And just in case you were wondering, a giraffe’s milk is NOT drinkable for humans!
DÉTOX. Nutrition: What do you believe? runs from 18 May 2014 to 30 April 2015.
ALIMENTARIUM
Musée de l'alimentation Quai Perdonnet 25
1800 Vevey
www.alimentarium.ch
Tuesday - Friday: 10:00 to 17:00
Saturday & Sunday: 10:00 to 18:00
Closed Monday
Click here to view special events organized around the exhibition.
All photos courtesy of Emmanuel Turchany, ©ALIMENTARIUM
