Taste of Art
This Taste of Art program was in collaboration The Taste Smokers, an upgraded street-food culinary experience all made with love by Pit Master Quartez “Q” and Veronica Moore. Since 2018 The Taste Smokers has been operating as a food truck or “mobile pit” and establishing a strong following at local Lehigh Valley breweries, festivals, family reunions and other events. In the Summer of 2021 they opened a brick and mortar location at 318 E. Third Street in South Bethlehem where they have created more than just a restaurant, but an experience, and a vehicle and incubator for change and development. Their new location offers their signature Chicago-style barbecue and smoked meats, paired with soul-food sides, as well as a passion for supporting and collaborating with the community through community and music events, as well as the display of local artists’ work.
The program features an introduction to The Taste Smokers's signature green side “soul-food” menu item and small batch rub, and it’s connection to the influence that was brought to Chicago during the “Great Migration,” a long-term movement of African Americans from the South to the urban North between 1916-1970. We also explore works by artists featured in the current exhibition Young, Gifted and Black on view in LUAG’s Main Galleries through May 27, 2022. Young, Gifted and Black is the first stand-alone public exhibition curated from the exceptional collection of the Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection of Contemporary Art and showcases works in a variety of media, by emerging artists, alongside works by established artists who have paved the way for the younger generation.
Taste of Art weaves culture and history together by pairing cuisine and recipes from the local SouthSide Bethlehem community with works of art from LUAG’s permanent collection. Through interactive lectures, DIY- at-home tastings, storytelling, and discussion, individuals of all ages and backgrounds will experience the intersection of art, cultural heritage, and cuisine, and as a result, will strengthen their cultural understanding, well-being, and connection to their community. Interactive lectures and cooking demos are offered in partnership with Maite Gomez-Rejon of ArtBites.
Maite Gomez-Rejón is the founder of ArtBites. She has dedicated her career to exploring the nexus of art and culinary history through lectures, cooking classes, and tastings presented in museums across the country and through videos on her YouTube channel – ArtBites: Cooking Art History. Maite has a BFA from the University of Texas at Austin, an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a Grande Diplome from the French Culinary Institute in New York City. She has been a guest on the Today Show, featured in Food & Wine magazine, and interviewed on KCRW's Good Food and NPR's Splendid Table. She is also a contributor to Life & Thyme, Eaten Magazine, Gastro Obscura, and other publications. Her essay, “Mexico's Early Cookbooks,” appears in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History. For more info visit www.artbites.net.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, American Rescue Plan for Museums and Libraries.
This program was held on February 17, 2022.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, American Rescue Plan for Museums and Libraries.
Este proyecto ha sido posible en parte por el Instituto de Servicios de Museos y Bibliotecas, Plan de Rescate Americano para Museos y Bibliotecas.
