nosh nook #194 - thursday, december 10, 2009

seeing green in the natural history museum's food court (link)
12.9.09 - the ny times - by sarah maslin nir

a few years back, my mom & youngest bro came down to the city & stayed with me for a few days & while they were here, we did a few touristy things, including visiting the american museum of natural history. at the time, they were running their baseball as america exhibit & when we reached the end of it, there was a strategically placed gift shop waiting for us. i'd been to a bunch of museums in the past, but it was then that it really hit me that while museums are culturally stimulating, they're also designed to make money off of that cultural stimulation. you enjoyed monet's water lilies? perhaps you'd also enjoy a set of note cards with the paintings printed on them?

i suppose the money making's not all bad. the ny times reports that the natural history museum food court--one of their main money makers--has done something no other nyc eatery has done. no. we're not talking about serving velociraptor eggs. we're talking about the fact that they've been granted three-star status by the green restaurant association, a non-profit who "specializes in consulting with restaurants" to make them greener & awards them points for their efforts. basically, what that means is that the museum has earned enough points by "increasing water efficiency," using "local and sustainable foods" and "cups and plates...made from sugar cane" & cutting out bottled water ("after the museum's 2007 exhibition 'water: h2o = life" pointed out the wastefulness") that they've earned a third star.

not all of the food court's changes have been a success though. when they started making all the green changes to the food court, they tried to update their "iconic dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets that have graced the museum's menu since roughly the paleozoic era" by making a "baked version with a whole-wheat crust." in response, "there was a 'near-riot,' prompting the original recipe's quick return." it makes sense. if you're in the natural history museum eating random bits of chicken that have been molded into t-rex or a stegosaurus shaped nuggets & then breaded, those nuggets had better be authentic. there's no such thing as a healthy chicken nugget & making one would be nothing short of historically unnatural. kudos to the near-rioting museum-goers for setting that nugget situation straight.