by Andrew Miller
Thisweek Newspapers

If you have ever sent a letter to Betty Crocker asking for cooking advice but didn't get a reply, don't feel slighted.

"Key Ingredients: America by Food,î the new exhibit at the Scott County Historical Society (SCHS), will help explain why 'ol Betty never got around to putting pen to paper.

Like Aunt Jemima, Mr. Peanut and the Jolly Green Giant, Betty Crocker was simply a marketing tool.

"People believed in Betty, but she was never a real woman,î explained Kathleen Klehr, SCHS executive director.

"Key Ingredients,î a traveling Smithsonian exhibit which opened July 1 at SCHS in Shakopee, explores the historical and social traditions that merge in everyday American meals.

From farming to product marketing, from roadside diners to the family dinner table, the exhibit connects what we eat with who we are; in other words, how ethnicity, tradition and landscape influence the foods and flavors we enjoy.

One focus of the exhibit is regional foods, foods so closely linked to a region's identity that it's tough to think of one without the other coming to mind. Think Idaho potatoes, Wisconsin cheese, Texas chili, Iowa corn.

And some foods which might seem to originate in far-off lands turn out to be American inventions, like Chinese fortune cookies and nachos.

A local component rounds out the Smithsonian exhibit. Paintings by Scott County artists, inspired by favorite recipes, are on display, as are old family cookbooks from Shakopee and Jordan.

An interactive Web site, www.keyingredients.org, was developed in conjunction with the exhibit. The Web site invites people to share their family recipes and identify their favorite small town eateries.

SCHS was chosen to host "Key Ingredientsî by the Minnesota Humanities Commission and the Smithsonian Institution as part of the Museum on Main Street project, a national/state partnership to bring exhibitions to rural cultural organizations.

The exhibit will tour six Minnesota communities from July 2006 to March 2007.

"Key Ingredientsî runs through August 8 at SCHS and admission is free. For more information, contact SCHS at (952) 445-0378 or visit www.scottcountyhistory.org.

Andrew Miller is at savage.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.

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