Temporarily Closed – Opening May 11, 2024
Join us for a lively day of conversation exploring the artwork and themes displayed in Sweet Tooth: The Art of Dessert. Presenters include Dr. Wendy Woloson, Professor of History at Rutgers University; Emily McCracken, Chocolate Sculptor at Lake Champlain Chocolates; and Shelburne Museum director, Dr. Thomas Denenberg. Participants will enjoy presentations, a wide-ranging panel discussion, a chocolate demonstration, and a guided tour of the exhibition. Lunch is included in the $45 fee. Members receive a 10% discount on registration, and a special student rate of $25 is available.
FEATURED SPEAKERS AND PRESENTERS
Andrew Smith, Food Writer and Historian
Wendy Woloson, Ph.D, Rutgers University
Susan Ouellette, Ph.D., St. Michael’s College
Emily McCracken, Lake Champlain Chocolates
Thomas Denenberg, Ph.D., Director, Shelburne Museum
Schedule
9:30 a.m.-Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education opens for coffee and conversation
10 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.
Welcome and introductory remarks by Thomas Denenberg, Director, Shelburne Museum
10:15 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Andrew Smith, The Sweet (and Not-So-Sweet) Story of Sugar
Sugar has been on our minds for millennia. First cultivated in New Guinea around ten thousand years ago, but unknown to the Ancient Greeks and Romans, and extremely expensive from the Middle Ages until the Industrial Revolution, this addictive sweetener has come to dominate our appetites—whether in candy, desserts, soft drinks, processed food, or even pasta sauces. Sugar’s past is chockfull of determined adventurers: relentless sugar barons and plantation owners who worked alongside plant breeders, food processors, distributors, and politicians to build a business based on our cravings. In both the sugarcane and sugar beet industries, men have made fortunes and met their demise, all because of sugar’s simple but profound hold on our palettes.
11:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Wendy Woloson, The Origins of America’s Sweet Tooth
The Origins of America’s Sweet Tooth will explore the history of sugar and the confections that were made with it. The talk will focus on the production and consumption of sugar from the colonial era, when sugar was an expensive rarity, through the 19th century, as sweets became cheaper more widely available. Among other topics, Dr. Woloson will discuss the history of ice cream, bonbons, wedding cakes, and penny candies.
12:15 p.m. – 1 p.m. Lunch and Museum exploration
1:15 pm – 2 p.m.
Susan Ouellette, A Social History of Chocolate
2:15 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Chocolate scupltress Emily McCracken of Lake Champlain Chocolates will discuss her work and assemble a new piece to be raffled off at the conclusion of the day.
3:15 – 3:45 p.m.
Panel Q & A
3:45 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Final thoughts
4 p.m.
Tour of Sweet Tooth: The Art of Dessert with curators Kory Rogers and Carolyn Bauer
4:30 p.m.
Day concludes