?The Fleming Museum has opened its doors to hungry visitors ready to consume its latest exhibit: ?EAT: The Social Life of Food.? ?EAT?, launched Sept. 17, is an exhibit designed and curated by the students of an Honors College class offered by Jennifer Dickinson last Spring semester titled ?Introduction to Museum Studies.? ?EAT? attempts to capture the social, spiritual, and political import of food across the world and through time with a wide variety of artifacts and artistic pieces.The exhibit includes some of the rarest and most unique artifacts the Fleming has in its collection.Religious relics like an Egyptian offering slab from 1660 B.C.E exemplify what the exhibitors frame as the ?elevated? nature of eating, what raises the level of eating above the quotidian act of bodily nourishment. A whale-shaped Potlatch ladle used to offer fish oil to tribal leaders is indicative of an entire conflict between Native American tribes and the U.S. and Canadian officials who banned Potlatch meetings to dissuade alliances between tribal groups. During the 1862-63 year Charles Wainwright of the 12th Vermont Infantry wrote his mother a letter on a wafer of Union issued hardtack. The premise behind the artifact is that a mere cracker can represent the interpersonal significance of food. The exhibit also reminds the attendee that the kitchen was once a place to breach class boundaries. With the advent of baking soda and Redware, clay ceramic pieces that appear red after being fired at low temperatures, decadent cakes and embellished dishware were no longer reserved for the upper echelons of society. The collection, which will be housed in the Wilbur Room of the Fleming Museum until May 18, boasts more than just carbonized corn and 17th century eating utensils. Pieces from famous arists such as Andy Warhol?s ?Table Setting? (1980) and Harriet G. Miller?s ?Extravagance of French Bread? (1937) are also featured prominently.??Introduction to Museum Studies? is one of the only classes where I have been able to see the results of my work,? said tour leader Madison Moran. The design of the space allows the unique opportunity to walk through history and between cultures to examine the implications of eating that have unified families, disparate groups and now visitors alike.