'Taste Traditions Of South Jersey' Featured At Tuckerton Seaport

TUCKERTON, NJ — Food. Obviously, everyone needs to eat to live. But it's more than just sustenance. It unites generations and forms cultures.

Explore the unique foodways of the region with the Tuckerton Seaport & Baymen's Museum with the debut of their new exhibit: "Taste Traditions of South Jersey," on display from Nov. 4 through Jan. 31.

"Taste Traditions of South Jersey" is a project of the Jersey Shore Folklife Center and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Located in the Tucker's Island Lighthouse’s lower level gallery, guests will learn all about the unique recipes, tools and cultures affiliated with South Jersey.

To know a place is to know its people, its traditions and its food. "Taste Traditions of South Jersey" sheds light on some of the unique foodways of our region. Highlights include some unique artifacts of female entrepreneurs such as local cookbook creator Marilyn Schmidt, and Velma Brown, the first African American woman to have her recipe published in the annual Vineland cookbook of 1955.

See the oyster knives that Captain Oppie Speck of Tuckerton used to make his traditional Christmas Eve stew. Explore the process of making kutia, a Ukrainian Christmas porridge. Glance at a variety of South Jersey cookbooks from a various cultures. Appreciate the tools that were once used to harvest cranberries in the 1950s. Discover the future of South Jersey foodways in Stockton University's Maple Grant tapping system.

The Seaport collaborated with individuals and organizations spanning throughout South Jersey to develop the content for the exhibit, highlighting different iconic foodways such as oysters, kutia, cranberries, apples, huckleberries, seafood, and potatoes. The Tuckerton Seaport invites you to come learn and celebrate with them this holiday season.

Featured contributors include Ed McKay, Susan Speck Polk, Michelle Washington Wilson, Ukrainian National Women's League Chapter 98, Stockton University's South Jersey Cultural & History Center, Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center, and Sam Azzez Museum of Woodbine Heritage.

For information, call the Tuckerton Seaport & Baymen's Museum at 609-296-8868. Tuckerton Seaport is located at 120 West Main Street in Tuckerton, NJ. Please visit www.tuckertonseaport.org for more information about upcoming exhibits and programs.