Watch What You Eat Laboratory: Nostalgia, Knowledge and Exploring Food Culture

03.11.2026. – 02.05.2027.

18:00h

Ethnographic Museum, Zagreb

Through three major themes—nostalgia, knowledge, and field research—the exhibition presents stories about food, dietary habits, and food culture; for food is not merely what we eat, but an integral part of our culture and daily life. The ways in which we prepare and select food evolve over time, while knowledge about food is passed down from generation to generation. Consequently, the decision of what to eat is also a decision about where we belong.

The exhibition is designed to encourage visitors to reflect on the various meanings of food—from its role throughout history and in everyday life to the challenges and possibilities that the future may bring.

The exhibition is open from 3 November 2026 to 2 May 2027.

exhibition

ABOUT EXHIBITION

Preparing food is both a uniquely human skill and a universal form of knowledge. For this reason, cooking is regarded as an integral part of culture. Throughout history, ideas about what is considered edible, and what is not, have constantly changed. When we taste food, our response is shaped less by whether something is objectively edible than by our own cultural understanding of it. Choosing what we eat is therefore also a way of expressing where we belong. Our food choices are influenced by tradition, yet traditions themselves are constantly evolving, as are our eating habits.

The Watch What You Eat Laboratory exhibition is organised around three interconnected themes: nostalgia, the transmission of knowledge, and fieldwork. These three themes also form the conceptual framework of the project on which the exhibition is based. The award-winning Watch What You Eat Laboratory is a collaborative project of the Ethnographic Museum, Zagreb, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb (Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology), and the Department of Ethnology and Anthropology at the University of Zadar. Its aim is to document contemporary knowledge and skills related to the preparation of (traditional) dishes while also exploring food and cooking as social, cultural, communicative and integrative processes. The project also provides students of ethnology and cultural anthropology with an opportunity for experiential learning through fieldwork. Each year, field research takes place in a different location, with a new group of students and participants, opening up new research questions and fresh thematic perspectives.

The exhibition, which marks the tenth anniversary of the project, invites visitors to reflect on the many meanings of food – from its role throughout history and in everyday life to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

IMPRESSUM

EXHIBITION AUTHORS

dr.sc. Tanja Kocković Zaborski i Mia Beck

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATES

dr.sc. Tihana Rubić, Odsjek za etnologiju i kulturnu antropologiju, Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu

dr.sc. Danijela Birt Katić, Odjel za etnologiju i antropologiju, Sveučilište u Zadru

dr.sc. Jelena Ivanišević, Institut za etnologiju i folkloristiku

Matija Kralj Štefanić, video umjetnik

Ana Kolonić, Aleksandra Vlatković, Mareta Kurtin, Matija Dronjić, Etnografski muzej, Zagreb

Melita Turković

Studentice/studenti etnologije i kulturne antropologije s Filozofskog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu i Sveučilišta u Zadru: Pavel Gulin Zrnić, Luthien Lorelei Krstevski, Sarah Mrvoš, Ivana Starčević, Ana Zubčić

EXHIBITION AND VISUAL IDENTITY DESIGN

Studio Bilić Müller

MULTIMEDIA

Fotografije / Photographs – Etnografski muzej, Zagreb, Etnografski muzej Istre/Museo Etnografico de’Istria, Muzej grada Zagreba / Ethnographic museum, Zagreb; Ethnographic Museum of Istria; Zagreb City Museum

Film – produkcija Pazi što jedeš Laboratorij: Ravioli/Rafioli (2017), Čaša puna zanata (2019), Kraj u pjatu (2018), „Si mi morem spiti pri miru kavu? “: topli napitak kao simbol zajedničkog prostora (2020), Teren kod kuće (2020), Slušanje zemlje (2026)/ Ravioli/Rafioli (2017), A Glass Full of Craft (2019), A taste of home on the plate (2018), „Si mi moreme spiti pri miru kavu?“: a warm drink as a symbol of a shared space (2020), Fieldwork at Home (2020), Listening to the Earth (2026).

Reklame/ TV commercials: Kraš – Bronhi, Životinjsko carstvo, 505 s crtom; Podravka – Male tajne velikih majstora kuhinje/ Kraš – Bronhi, Animal Kingdom, 505 with a dash; Podravka – Little Secrets of Great Master Chefs

PROOFREADING

Silvija Brkić Midžić

TRANSLATION

Vialingua

CONSERVATION AND RESTAURATION OF OBJECTS

Kristina Matković, Ivana Prodan, Marijana Najjar, Mihaela Grčević

TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION

Konzervatorsko-restauratorske radionice EMZ-a: Davor Filipčić, Darijen Paša, Mislav Šemeš, Marko Vrljić

MARKETING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS

dr.sc. Ivana Lušić

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM

Silvia Vrsalović, Dina Kamber, Ivan Volarević