15 Weird And Wonderful Food Museums From Around The World

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The world has some great museums; The Guggenheim, The Louvre, and The British Museum are all world class institutions. Here at Culture Trip, we don’t just love the big and famous, we love the unusual too. Here then, are 15 weirdly wonderful food museums that prove ‘if you collect it, they will come’.

The SPAM® Museum, USA

Museum

The meat that helped win World War II, Spam still has a loyal following in its hometown of Austin, Minnesota (and also, unusually, Hawaii). If you’ve ever wanted to know all about the history of the original canned meat, this 16,500-square foot free museum is for you.

Carpigiani Gelato museum, Italy

Museum

With a history stretching back to ancient Mesopotamia, gelato and other iced desserts have been with us for a very long time. This 1,000-square meter museum contains 20 gelato making machines, hundreds of archive images and informative videos. There are also masterclasses, demonstrations and of course – lots of ice cream.

Cup Noodle Museum, Japan

Museum

A shrine to the culinary creation of Momofuku Ando, who gave the world instant noodles in 1958. Ando worked non-stop for a whole year, sleeping only four hours a night to develop his creation. Today instant noodles are all over the globe, but it all started here. There’s a hands-on chicken ramen factory to take part in too.

Idaho Potato Museum, USA

Museum

This museum celebrates Idaho’s greatest export – potatoes. Indeed, a third of the States’ spuds – some 27 billion – are grown here. Housed in an old freight train depot, the museum is home to the largest collection of potato mashers in the world, and if that wasn’t enough, there’s also the world’s largest crisp on display.

Frietmuseum, Belgium

Museum

They’re rather partial to chips, or frites, in Belgium, and even lay claim to inventing them. So it’s only right that Bruges is home to the world’s first museum dedicated to fries. Needless to say, chips are available to buy afterwards.

Deutsches Currywurst Museum, Germany

Restaurant, German

Currywurst is to Berlin what pizza is to Naples. This hugely popular snack was invented after WWII when local food stall owner, Herta Heuwer, acquired some spicy sauces from occupying British forces and added them to the traditional German sauces.

Museum of Brands, UK

Museum

One of London’s best and most quirky museums, the Museum of Brands in Notting Hill tells the story of food packaging and advertising from the Victorian times right up to the present day. What’s surprising is just how little some of them have changed. A real trip down memory lane – particularly the sweets section.

Beer Can Museum, USA

Bar, Pub, Pub Grub

Housed in Ye Ol’ Watering Hole pub in Northampton, Massachusetts is the Beer Can Museum. The collection began just before WWII (see the website for the full tragic story) and was added to considerably in 1975. Cigarette smoke took its toll on the collection, but thanks to the help of volunteers, it’s been restored. The collection now includes over 4000 cans, plus as it’s housed in a working pub, you can enjoy some bar time too.

Amsterdam Cheese Museum, Holland

Museum

People go to Amsterdam for all sort of experiences, and this museum shows why you should make cheese one of them. You can try samples of famous Dutch cheeses, try on traditional dresses, and see the most expensive cheese slicer ever made.

National Mustard Museum, USA

Museum

Discover the magic of mustard at this free museum in Middleton, Wisconsin. There’s quizzes, a tasting bar, and The Great Wall of Mustard, an epic collection of 5,624 types of mustard from all 50 states, and over 70 countries worldwide. If you like it hot, head here.

International Vinegar Museum, USA

Museum

Loved by the Romans, sloshed on British fish and chips, and drizzled on salads, vinegar gives food flavour, and the International Vinegar Museum in Roslyn, South Dakota is the only museum in the world dedicated to the piquant condiment. Here you can learn about the different types of vinegar, from malt to balsamic, as well as see vinegars from all over the world.

Pizza Brain, USA

Restaurant, American

Who doesn’t like a good slice o’ pizza pie? This museum and regular pizzeria in the Fishtown neighbourhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is also home to the world’s largest collection of pizza paraphernalia, including toys, menus and other collectables.

Burnt Food Museum, USA

We’ve all taken our eye off the stove at some time in our lives. The result? Burnt food. When this happened to Deborah Henson-Conant’s apple cider, she decided to start collecting other examples of burnt food, and thus the museum was born. If you’ve ever burnt food to oblivion, you can add a photo to their facebook page, but as for the actual exhibition, it’s only made public on very rare occasions.

Museums of the Olive in the Mediterranean

Not one, not even a few, but 15 museums are part of the this family of institutions scattered across the Mediterranean from Spain in the West to Italy, Greece, Turkey and Israel. The Greek one in Sparta is a modern museum telling the story of olives in the Greek culture.

Big Mac® Museum, USA

‘Two all Beef patty special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun,’ goes the Big Mac’s famous jingle-cum-recipe method. Now over 40 years old, the Big Mac has its own museum; pose next to the world’s largest Big Mac model as well as finding out more about its inventor.

9061 State Route 30, North Huntingdon, PA15642-2792

About the author

Andrew Webb

Food & Drink Editor

Born in the Midlands and raised in the North West of England, Andrew came to London to attend St Martin's College of Art. After ten years working for the BBC and Channel 4, he set off on an eight month food tour of Britain, which led him to write his award-winning book, Food Britannia. He was previously the Editor of Lovefood.com and also produced and hosted delicious magazine's podcast. Responsible for the Culture Trip's food and drink content, he is interested in hearing about food events, product launches and potential interviews with chefs and food producers. He's also judged the British Pie Awards, reviewed restaurants, and spoken at food festivals, and so knows a good plate of food when he sees it. He can be found tweeting here @foodjournalist