If you are an aspiring cook or a foodie, October is your month at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington D.C.

Food History Weekend
Oct. 13 and 14
For more information: https://americanhistory.si.edu/events/food-history-weekend

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History will host its eighth annual Food History Weekend Oct. 13-14, a multifaceted festival that consist of two days of lively events, including a cooking demonstration, panel discussions and objects out of storage displays.

Food History Gala
Oct. 13; 6:30 p.m.

For more information: https://americanhistory.si.edu/events/food-history-weekend/gala
For tickets: https://amhistory.si.edu/donate/food-gala/

The Weekend kicks-off with the eighth annual Smithsonian Food History Gala featuring the presentation of the Julia Child Award to recipient Grace Young. Grace Young, culinary historian and cookbook author, is a tireless advocate for the preservation of American Chinatowns and all their cultural, economic and gastronomic riches. The Gala will be held in the museum once again. The Weekend and Gala have been named “The Best Festival for Food Lovers” by Washing City Paper, and the Gala is one of Washington, DC’s premier culinary events. The public may purchase tickets here

Cooking Demonstration, Displays and Panel Discussion
Oct. 14; 12 p.m.
Wallace H. Coulter Plaza
First Foor, West

Culinary historian and cookbook author Grace Young will lead a special cooking demonstration at the museum. As part of the museum’s “Cooking Up History” series, Young will speak about and demonstrate her decades-long pursuit to preserve Chinese culinary traditions. Sharing the ancestral knowledge she documented for her cookbooks, “The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen,” “The Breath of a Wok” and “Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge,” Young will prepare her father’s cashew chicken recipe during the hour-long, live cooking demonstration and conversation. Young will also speak about the integral role that Chinatowns played historically and today across the country and how they are endangered and in desperate need of support from the broader American population.   The museum will also host an “Objects Out of Storage” event, inviting visitors to take a closer look at objects and documents donated recently by Young. Other objects from the museum’s collections that illuminate the rich and diverse cultures of Chinatowns and Chinese American communities across the United States will also be on view.