Press

ALBANY – A “New York City Chocolate Crawl,” “Sundaes on Sunday” and chocolate cooking and sampling are among the activities planned by the New York State Museum this fall to complement

the Museum’s Chocolate exhibition opening September 17th.

Chocolate, an exhibition from Chicago’s Field Museum that will be open through Jan. 7, 2006, will take visitors on a journey through history, exploring the relationship between human culture and this rainforest treasure. Beginning with the story of chocolate’s origin, from the seeds of the cacao tree, the exhibition explores the products, the history and the culture of chocolate through the lenses of botany and ecology, anthropology and economics, conservation and popular culture.

Author, lecturer and culinary historian Alexandra Leaf from the New York Food Museum will lead the “New York City Chocolate Crawl” on Saturday, Sept. 30th . The day will begin with a bus trip from the New York State Museum. Leaf will lead a tour through the Chocolate district on Manhattan’s west side, with a stop at the Greenmarket in Union Square and then ABC Carpet & Home, between Chelsea and Union Square. ABC sells unique home accessories and furnishings from around the world, specializing in environmentally conscious or fair-trade products. Participants will end their day with a visit to Chocolat Michel Cluizel Paris, one of the finest chocolate stores in New York, for a guided chocolate tasting with French sparkling wine. The fee is $90 for Museum members and $95 for non-members. Paid reservations are required by September 15. Seating is limited.

A free lecture will be held Wednesday, Oct. 11th at 6:30 p.m. on “The Natural History and

Ethnobotany of Cacao.” The lecture will be presented by Dr. George Robinson, an associate professor in

the Department of Biological Sciences, and Dr. Ingrid Peters Robinson, an adjunct research associate

professor of biology, both at the University of Albany.

A “Maya Wall-Hanging” workshop for children, aged 7 to 12, is planned for Sunday, October 15. Participants will tour the Chocolate exhibition and learn about the ancient Maya civilization, which was the first to discover the cacao seed. They will choose from a variety of Maya designs to emboss on to the

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wall hanging that they will create. The fee is $10 for members and $12 for non-members. Participants

must pre-register by October 11th.

“Sundaes on Sunday” will be featured on Sunday, November 19th from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Everything necessary for a super sundae will be offered. The fee is $1 for members and $2 for non-members.

A Family Fun Chocolate Celebration is planned for Saturday and Sunday, December 2-3 from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday’s activities will feature “The Singing, Ringing Cacao Tree,” an interactive children’s theatre presentation directed by Sarah Salerno-Thomas, from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Children from the audience will participate in the production that features a Maya princess and is based on a fairy tale about the transforming power of love. Large papier-mâché masks, created by award-winning artist Ruth Fledermaus, will be used to bring the story to life.

On Sunday, Dec. 3 Chef Armand Vanderstigchel, cookbook author and media cooking celebrity, will demonstrate various uses for chocolate in cooking. Currently the head chef at Stew Leonard’s in New York City, Chef Armand is the author of “The Adirondack Cuisine Cookbook,” that led to a PBS TV series, and “Chicken Wings Across America.” He also is the culinary editor of Dish DuJour Magazine and has appeared on radio and TV, including the “Today Show” and “Good Morning America.”

Also on Sunday, Chocolatier Kevin Tighe of Averill Park, who recently studied in France and sells his chocolates at area shops, will make his chocolate truffles for tasting. Participants can also sample chocolate desserts and other treats created by chefs from the Chocolate Springs in Lenox, MA. and the Arlington House in West Sand Lake. A chocolate fountain will also be available.

Tours of the Chocolate exhibition will be held every Saturday from September 23 through January 6 at 1 and 2 p.m.

Chocolate Wednesdays will feature complimentary chocolate for each person with a ticket to the exhibition. Admission to the Chocolate exhibition is $4 for adults and $2 for children aged 6 to 12. Museum members will receive complimentary tickets based on their level of membership. Membership information is available at 518-474-1354.

To obtain further information or to register for any of the programs call (518) 473-7154 or e-mail psteinba@mail.nysed.gov.

Chocolate and its national tour were developed by The Field Museum, Chicago. This project was supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation. Local support was provided by Federal Marine Terminals, Fortitech, Inc. and the New York Board of Trade.

The New York State Museum is a cultural program of the New York State Department of

Education. Founded in 1836, the Museum has the longest continuously operating state natural history

research and collection survey in the U.S. Located on Madison Avenue in Albany, the Museum is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Admission is free. Further information can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.

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