Chocolate was originally a bitter, ceremonial drink crafted by the Mayans. In the 16th Century, Europeans added sugar to chocolate, which made it the preferred wake-up drink for the elite. Today, the average American eats 12 pounds of chocolate per year.
These are a few facts you can learn at a new exhibit at The Durham Museum.
“Chocolate: The Exhibition” opened last week and is on display at Durham in Omaha’s Union Station through April 26. The exhibit was created by Chicago’s Field Museum in 2002 and has since traveled around the country to 15 cities.
The exhibit takes you through an exploratory journey tracing the history of chocolate, from the tropical rainforest to chocolate in the international market. Visitors will learn about the botany, economy and cultural impact of the popular treat.
David Foster, director of exhibitions at The Field Museum, helped develop the traveling exhibit after getting feedback from a small display focused on commodities such as bananas, coffee and chocolate. Much of the interest was for the latter of the three.
“It was a no-brainer. This has got to be a 5,000 square foot exhibit,” Foster said.
“We had planned to send it out on a short tour, maybe a couple years, and then retire it. Well, seven years later now and it’s still going strong. That kind of proves the universal popularity of the subject.”
The Durham Museum is excited to have “Chocolate” for three months, including a timely Valentine’s Day date. The exhibit also has a chocolate shop as guests exit so they can satisfy their chocolate cravings.
“I think this is an interesting exhibit for us, because it has so many different directions to it – the history piece, botany piece, the economic piece … and of course the culinary piece which I think is what a lot of us are familiar with and equate to chocolate,” said Shawna Forsberg, director of marketing and public relations.
“But I’ve learned a ton since we’ve decided to bring this exhibition in, about why does chocolate mean so much to you and I actually savor it a lot more.”