Nibbles: 150 years of Boulder food history come alive at new ‘Boulder Eats!’ exhibit

Strolling through the new “Boulder Eats!” exhibit at the Museum of Boulder during a preview, I was stopped in my tracks. There were so many faces staring back at me. They were not visitors or staff members, but the images of people who transformed an obscure city into one of America’s “foodiest” towns, a Michelin-starred dining destination and a place that changed how the nation eats.

On one wall, I spotted Dr. John Kellogg (of cornflakes fame), the man who brought granola to Boulder in 1896. Over there was O.T. Jackson, the entrepreneurial first chef at the Chautauqua Dining Hall. I caught sight of tofu pioneer Steve Demos, and the short-order cooks working the flattop grill in the 1970s at Boulder’s legendary Aristocrat Steak House.

As the exhibit historian for “Boulder Eats! Food Traditions Along the Front Range,” I knew all the names. The faces reminded me that it’s not really about dinner, but about the real people who gathered around their tables, starting with the region’s Native inhabitants.

Food is the connective tissue that bonds generations of Boulder chefs, farmworkers, bakers, diners and home cooks.

“Boulder Eats!” — open Nov. 15 through July 26, 2026 — tells the stories of local innovators who changed how Americans eat and drink through natural foods, fast-casual dining, regenerative farming, scratch-cooked school lunches, Slow Food, homebrewing, craft breweries and organizations’ creative efforts to fight food insecurity.

One wall shelf displays a century of locally produced cookbooks and popular recipe collections showing how folks like us got breakfast on the table. Nearby are historic cooking tools and a wall of vintage dinner plates loaned by notable locals.

This visual and auditory smorgasbord is designed to delight multiple generations. While Grandpa gets nostalgic about the spiced tea at The Good Earth, the youngsters can gawk at antique kids’ stoves and smell exotic spices. They can discover that the McDonald’s Happy Meal was partially created in Boulder, along with favorite natural snacks like Justin’s Nut Butter.

The beating heart of this exhibit is an antique dining table whose settings will change throughout the year to celebrate holidays, events and cultures we share. “Boulder Eats!” also spotlights restaurant fare through a floor-to-ceiling buffet of menus, signs and dishes, from a piece of the original Old Chicago pinball machine that inspired the restaurant’s name to a Michelin award recently won by a local bistro.

An immersive restaurant kitchen installation, complete with authentic equipment, serves as a “Yes, Chef!” homage to the multitude of anonymous food service workers who feed us every day.

Dozens of restaurants are highlighted — from the countercultural Carnival Cafe to eateries that introduced Boulder to international cuisines, such as Indo-Ceylon Restaurant, New Saigon, Mataam Fez and Pelican Pete’s, Boulder’s first sushi bar.

These public spaces, from the Flagstaff House Restaurant to Falafel King, are where we’ve met, celebrated, mourned, proposed and broken up.

I’ve always loved history and I have enjoyed visiting many museums, but this is the first time I’ve ever left an exhibit ravenously hungry. I am grateful to the generations of locals who chose to preserve Boulder’s history.

The exhibit’s opening celebration on Nov. 15 is the first of many community events. The Museum of Boulder will host a Snowman Cookie Decorating Party for kids on Dec. 2.

Upcoming events include guided tours, cooking demos, workshops, panel discussions, storytelling and international cultural celebrations. 

Tickets and events are here.

What’s John eating this week?

Wheat Ridge road trip yields roasted piñons and nearly perfect cannoli

There’s no taste I’ve found that matches the buttery, toasty, craveable taste of Pinus edulis — roasted and salted in-shell piñons. These treats don’t resemble the shelled, bland, farmed pine nuts often used in pesto. You crack and peel the thin-skinned piñons one by one.

Because they’re wild-harvested and found only in New Mexico and southern Colorado, roasted piñon nuts are rare and deservedly expensive — like truffles or saffron.

That’s why I made the trek to Wheat Ridge’s iconic Heine’s Market (11801 W. 44th Avenue), one of the few local sources this year. Open for more than 75 years, Heine’s is a hybrid grocery and farmers market offering Colorado produce and products including LudaCrisp apples, Mortgage Lifter white beans, jars of pickled vegetables, and an impressive assortment of meats and roasted chile varieties. 

Since I was in Wheat Ridge, I stopped at Grammy’s Goodies (4601 Harlan Street). I was wowed by a menu jammed with East Coast Italian-American favorites like fried ravioli, square pizza, calzones, lasagna, and sausage and peppers. We enjoyed a Big Jeff’s Italian sub — stacked with capicola, ham, salami, pepperoni, soppressata, provolone and balsamic dressing — and a spot-on chicken parm sandwich on a toasted house-baked baguette.

First-time diners receive a free order of buttery garlic knots with marinara for dipping. The dessert case was filled with cream puffs, pizzelles, pastries, pies, cakes, amaretti and wedding cookies. I went home with a nearly perfect cannoli — a crisp fried shell stuffed with sweet ricotta.

Local food news 

From Longmont camel milk to bagel stuffing cubes

Did you know a herd of camels thrives on the high desert plains of Longmont? Colorado Camel Milk ships raw camel milk shares and kefir to its members. (Sorry, no visits allowed!)

Fleishman’s Bagels and Delicatessen offers a creative Thanksgiving hack: mixed bagel crouton cubes for your turkey stuffing. The food truck is parked in front of Mike’s Bikes of Boulder at 2355 30th Street.

Openings

Siren Cocktail Bar has opened at 632 South Broadway, Suite A, in Boulder.

Culinary calendar 

Become a fromage influencer and attend a keg-centered craft beer benefit

Longmont’s Cheese Importers hosts a Cheese 101 fundamentals tasting on Nov. 19.

More than 20 Colorado craft breweries will pour at the Kick the Keg event on Nov. 21 at Denver’s Call to Arms Brewing. Each brewery brings one keg; the first to empty it wins $500. Local participants include 4 Noses, Cannonball Creek, Prost and Westbound & Down. Proceeds benefit the Colorado Brewers Guild.

The Longmont Farmers Market closes for the season on Nov. 15, with Boulder’s market wrapping up on Nov. 22, perfect timing to stock up for the holidays.

Deep food thoughts

“We concluded to start across the mountains, to what is called Boulder or Twelve-mile Diggings. … On the 4th of July we killed 8 antelopes, and made a public dinner, that is, we all threw in and ate together. The bill of fare contained antelope pot pie, potatoes, light bread, biscuit, apples, peaches, blackberries, sugar and coffee.” — G. L. Shoup, Boulder City, July 10, 1859, published in the Geneseo Republic