Hayden libraries get into the fun early

A piece of advice if you pop into the Hayden branch of the Kootenai-Shoshone Area Library in the next couple of months – don’t go on an empty stomach.

The place will be packed with photos of food, displays about food and various gadgets used to prepare food. Chances are decent you’ll find a chef or two whipping up a dish to share, or baking bread, or demonstrating Dutch oven techniques.

The Smithsonian Institution’s food exhibit “Key Ingredients: America by Food,” will be on display at the Hayden library from May 26 through July 8. This marks the exhibit’s Idaho debut, and “Key Ingredients” later will move on to Hailey, Buhl, Cottonwood, Winchester and Driggs.

The exhibit, part of the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street program, looks at the history and culture of food in America. It’s a topic that has relevance for everyone, said Karen Yother, the Hayden Branch Library’s “Key Ingredients” project director.

“Everybody has some sort of a connection with food. Whatever their beliefs are, whatever their family culture and heritage is, people have a real deep connection to food,” she said. “I know just in my own family, it’s been real interesting to hear my dad now talking about different things he did with his mother and the different food heritage they had.”

While the exhibit won’t go on display until May 26, the food fun is under way. Several local libraries already have started the Food for Fines program, in which patrons can pay off their library fines with donations of nonperishable food. At 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, the library, 8385 N. Government Way in Hayden, will host a fly-fishing demonstration. On Saturday beginning at 10 a.m., local chefs will show off their skills with a Taste of Idaho presentation.

Next Wednesday, New York Times bestselling mystery author Diane Mott Davidson will discuss her latest novel, “Dark Tort.” Davidson’s sleuth is Colorado caterer Goldy Schulz, who solves mysteries while whipping up delicious recipes. Davidson will participate in a luncheon that day at the Kellogg Elks Lodge, 2020 McKinley Ave., and give an evening program at the Hayden Library. (For luncheon tickets, call the Silver Valley or Hayden libraries; to reserve a seat for the evening program, call the Athol, Rathdrum, Spirit Lake or Hayden branches.)

“She’s the biggest author we’ve ever had here,” Yother said. “It’s a big kickoff for us.”

Other programs include cooking demonstrations, a book discussion, sessions on Dutch oven cooking, baking with whole grains, pairing food with wine and a talk by Idaho State University English professor Susan Swetnam. On June 15, she’ll discuss “Food Identity in Early Idaho.”

“What is our food identity here in Idaho, especially in North Idaho? Especially with mining industry and logging industry that used to be very prevalent there, what was their food culture?” Yother said. “Does it play into our lives today? Is it a part of who we are, is it not? How did that shape who we are? It should be an interesting discussion.”

For a schedule of events, see box on this page, visit www.ksalibraries.org/ki, or call (208) 772-5612, ext. 20.

The event also will feature a recipe swap, in which local residents were invited to share their favorite dishes, and a project involving the favorite recipes of area schoolchildren. Recipes from the swap will be distributed each week at the library and will be posted on the library’s Web site. The children’s recipes will be collected in a cookbook.

Recipes from both projects will be posted to “America’s Cookbook,” an online collection of recipes and stories sponsored by the Smithsonian. It’s available at www.keyingredients.org.

Museum on Main Street was created in 1991 as a way to bring the works of the Smithsonian Institution to residents of rural America. “Key Ingredients” is the second exhibit to visit Hayden; the first was “Yesterday’s Tomorrow” in 2004. It is presented in conjunction with the Idaho Humanities Council.

“We love hosting these and giving the community the opportunity to come in and see the Smithsonian,” Yother said, “which they might not normally have gone to see.”