Food is woven into our everyday lives, and a new exhibition at the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio highlights its deep-rooted presence in art and culture. Food for Thought: A Taste of the Canton Museum of Art explores what we eat, how we eat it and who we eat with, creating an intimate look at the role food plays in American art and culture. The unique exhibition opens September 27, 2025, and runs through January 4, 2026. “The exhibit celebrates the rich artistic, agricultural and cultural traditions that continue to shape how we connect with food today,” says Curator Kaleigh Pisani, curator of Collections & Registrar at the Canton Museum of Art.

Among the art pieces featured in the exhibition are Oysters, Wine. & Lemon, 1974, a lithograph on paper by American artist Jack Beal; Still Life, 1866, oil on canvas by German artist Johann Wilhelm Preyer; and Waldoboro, 2004, watercolor on paper by American artist Janet Fish. Complementing Food for Thought is an exhibition in the Lower Gallery called Essential Ingredients: Cookbooks as History, curated by Jolie Braun and Elizabeth Hewitt. Braun serves as the curator of Modern Literature and Manuscripts in the Ohio State University’s Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, and Hewitt serves as professor and chair in the Department of English at The Ohio State University. “Cookbooks are everywhere, and most people own at least one,” Hewitt says. “Yet while most people think of them as simply a collection of recipes, they can reveal a world beyond ingredients.”

Celebrating more than 200 years of American culinary history, Essential Ingredients explores cookbooks as a lens for understanding many aspects of our past and present, Braun says. “Cookbooks offer insight into far more than food – they reveal social movements, global foodways, local communities, international crises, technological advancements and deeply personal stories,” she said. As a special addition to the Food for Thought exhibition, Lancaster restaurants Ale House 1890 and Provisions Bakery & Deli will offer a rotating special that is dedicated to food inspired by the featured art. “I love being a part of this community and wanted to contribute to this exhibition in my lane,” owner Matthew Brady said. “I thought this was right up our wheelhouse of creativity and community support.” Programming designed to enrich the visitor experience will run alongside the exhibition as well.

For more information, please visit the Decorative Arts Center’s website.