Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Chocolate: The Exhibition Opens at the Natural History Museum of Utah

Bob Nelson

Chocolate: The Exhibition officially opens Saturday at the Natural History Museum of Utah. Sarah George is the executive director of the museum. She says the exhibition gives visitors a good sense of the botany, culture, and history of the cacao that date back to the Olmec people of the Mexican Gulf Coast.

“…and there have been very recent archeological discoveries of chocolate residue in prehistoric pottery from east of Blanding, Utah,"says George. "So we have a number of those pots on display and we talk about the trade routes that brought chocolate all the way from where the cacao trees were growing all the way up into as far north as Utah.”

Credit Bob Nelson
Local chocolatier display in the grand room of the NHMU.

George warns visitors to be prepared to be lured by the rich and sweet smell of the exhibition as soon as they enter the museum. She also invites patrons to the planned special tasting events on Wednesdays and weekends for an extra dollar.

Chocolate: The Exhibition is a creation of the Field Museum in Chicago and will be in Utah through the 1st of June. It is included in the regular price of admission of the Natural History Museum of Utah.  

Bob Nelson is a graduate of the University of Utah with a BA in mass communications. He began his radio career at KUER in 1978 when it was still in Kingsbury Hall. That’s also where he met his wife, Maria Shilaos, in 1981. Bob left KUER for commercial radio where he worked for 25 years, and he is thrilled to be back at KUER. Bob and his family are part of an explorer group, fondly known as The Hordes and Masses, which has been seeking out ghost towns and little-known places in Utah for more than twenty years.
KUER is listener-supported public radio. Support this work by making a donation today.