An Edible Exhibition from The Takeaway Museum: discovering what slaves would have eaten at Christmas during the 17th and 18th centuries

This exhibition was created to teach people about the types of food and drink slaves would have consumed at Christmas during the 17th and 18th centuries. The exhibition is designed so that people can literally taste what Caribbean slaves would have experienced, and focuses specifically on the Christmas period, as this was the only time of year when enslaved people were given extra rations, and sometimes even luxury items too.  A side of beef was given to more favoured slaves! Slaves used their experience and ingenuity to create many delicious dishes that are still eaten across the Caribbean today, such as rice and peas.

This unique edible exhibition was launched at Jamaican Ways – a popular Caribbean restaurant and takeaway situated in Nottingham. Museumand worked in partnership with Jamaican Ways, who produced a selection of authentic Caribbean dishes that were available to take away between December 2015 and January 2016. Each takeaway came with an exhibition guide aimed at teaching people about the food they had purchased, its origin and meaning. During these two months, approximately 6,000 people bought the dishes that were part of Museumand’s edible exhibition.