Phipps teaches farm to table wisdom, even when the farm is in Nigeria

At Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, the staff is busy working on the next tropical forest exhibit, which will concentrate on Central Africa, including Nigeria.

To promote cultural understanding across continents, Phipps has now partnered with Gidan Makama Museum Kano in Nigeria for a program involving high-school students from both countries. To create the program, the two museums received a 2013 Museums Connect grant from the U.S. state department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the American Alliance of Museums.

Students in Pittsburgh and in Nigeria will examine how local foods make it from farm to table, create their own regional recipe books and learn how to grow and cook nutritious food. They’ll work with adult community members to gain a better understanding of local foods and food preparation methods, as well as the foods and cooking methods of the other group’s country. The resulting recipe books, as well as photos from the program, will be displayed in both museums.

“What better way to connect people to places than through food?” says Phipps Exhibit Coordinator Jordyn Melino. When Phipps staff proposed the program to their counterparts in the Nigerian museum, “They said, ‘That’s what we’re looking for too,'” Melino reports.

Kids from the two countries will communicate monthly through videos and photos, keeping up with each other’s findings and progress. Pittsburgh’s kids will work in Phipps’ edible garden on their green roof and visit a local farm.

“It’s really important for us to connect youth who visit Phipps to fitness and better food choices,” Melino says. After the one-year program, she adds, “I hope they have a greater understanding of the Nigerian culture and a different attitude toward what it means to grow your own food and cook your own food.”

Writer: Marty Levine

Source: Jordyn Melino, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens