The Culinary Arts Museum’s latest exhibit, “Chow Mein, Chicken Wings, and Cheeseburgers,” revisits Chinese restaurants in downtown Providence from their heyday after World War II through their waning in the 1980s. This special exhibition is the work of guest curators Heather Lee and Amy Johnson, graduate students in Brown University’s John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage.

Culinary Arts Museum at Johnson & Wales University Presents:"Chow Mein, Chicken Wings and Cheese Burgers”

The exhibit remembers Ming Garden, Mee Hong and Luke's restaurants through the families that owned and ran them. It also explores the consumption of Chinese food by the greater Downcity Providence community. While the sounds of clanking dishes and the flavors of the restaurants' chicken chow mein and hamburger specials have vanished, the intangible culture of this community survives in the memories of the Downcity Chinese families. This exhibit captures, preserves and celebrates the living memory of this world.

In Providence, Chinese restaurants opened near Westminster Street, the main business and shopping corridor, as early as 1912. The Chin family opened Mee Hong Restaurant next to the Westminster Arcade in 1938. Three years later, the Tow family established Ming Garden on what is now Kennedy Plaza. In addition, the Tows owned the Port Arthur, which had opened in 1921 and was among the earliest Chinese restaurants in Rhode Island. Finally, in 1951, Tin Cheug Luke and his son Henry opened Luke’s Restaurant on Eddy Street.

The exhibit follows these families’ journeys as they established business enterprises which enable a cross-cultural exchange within their Providence community. It will interest visitors on a variety of levels, whether looking at the influence of immigration, the cultural ambiguity of menu selections, or the experience of running a family business. On display are place settings, furniture, photographs, documents and other objects. Together they weave a story of commerce and community.

A combination of changing tastes, the deterioration of downtown and generational change did force the eventual closing of these establishments, but this celebratory exhibit offers guests a window to the warm and communal past of downtown Chinese.

“Chow Mein, Chicken Wings, and Cheeseburgers” will be on view at the Culinary Arts Museum until June 30, 2009. Please visit: http://www.culinary.org for hours and directions to the museum. For further information on the exhibit, please contact: Richard Gutman, Culinary Arts Museum, Johnson & Wales University, 401-598-2805. Digital images are available.

Johnson & Wales University, founded in 1914, is a nonprofit, private institution. A recognized leader in career education, we offer accredited degrees in business, hospitality, culinary arts, technology and education. With a diverse student body of more than 16,000 graduate and undergraduate students, representing all 50 states and 89 countries, JWU prepares students for personal and professional success by integrating rigorous academics and professional skills, community leadership opportunities and our unique career education model. The university is committed to urban revitalization and thoughtful historic renovation. Through active civic participation and by offering unique learning opportunities, JWU improves the quality of life in its campus communities in Providence, R.I., North Miami, Fla., Denver, Colo., and Charlotte, N.C. For more information visit www.jwu.edu.

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