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Brusselicious Bon Appétit! exhibition - Cinquantenaire Museum, Brussels

This 15 August public holiday was the chance to visit one of the museum exhibitions organized as part of Brusselicious. The "Bon appétit! - Gastronomic discoveries through the centuries" exhibition in the Cinquantenaire Museum runs until 16 September.

With the €8 entrance ticket, visitors receive a  booklet which explains some of the key items of the exhibit.

Here's the entrance to the exhibition, which gives an overview of how, over the centuries, different civilizations and their discoveries have changed the way in which food and meals are conceived.

There are 340 artifacts arranged around 7 themes: Cereals; Dairy; Salt and spices; Sugar; Fruits and vegetables of the New World; Tea, coffee and chocolate; and Alcoholic drinks.

There was a "Bij Joseph" ice cream wagon, from around 1895, decorated with mirrors, paintings and sculptures. At the back there's a Mazzoletti mechanical piano and there's even an acetylene lighting system. Wouldn't it be cool to see one of these in Brussels today ?

Or what about the 1950s milkman traveling the streets of Brussels with his pony-drawn carriage ?

The exhibit ended with a thoughtful question: "We who live in the era of plastic, frozen foods, fast-food, caloric restriction diets, globalization and large-scale food retailing, what image of ourselves will we be able to leave for posterity? "

After visiting "Bon Appétit!" we enjoyed a stroll in the park. In the parking in front of Autoworld Brussels,  there was a gathering of vintage automobiles.

This Cadillac provided a preview of our next travel destination (Hint: a big island in the Caribbean).

Musée du Cinquantenaire (The Cinquantenaire Museum)
Parc de Cinquantenaire
http://www.kmkg-mrah.be/expositions/enjoy-your-meal

Note: the item descriptions are only in French and Dutch.