The Witte Museum has launched a major culinary exhibition, "Gather 'Round the Table: Texas Food Traditions," offering visitors an expansive look into the Lone Star State's rich gastronomic history. The extensive showcase, scheduled to remain on display through February 7, 2027, serves as a cornerstone event for the San Antonio institution's 100th anniversary celebration. Designed to delve deeply into regional culinary culture, the exhibition presents a wide array of artifacts, immersive displays, and interactive elements crafted directly by the museum's staff.
Serving as one of the most eye-catching centerpieces of the exhibition is a towering, 10-foot-tall chicken-on-a-stick sculpture. Designed with a thick golden-brown exterior and topped with a plump jalapeño mounted on a vivid yellow skewer, the oversized replica immediately commands attention. Although it appears hearty enough to feed multiple families, the giant carnival staple is entirely non-edible and was built as a visual tribute to local gathering traditions.
The sculpture was conceptualized and assembled internally by Marcos Medellin, the Witte Museum's director of exhibitions. Medellin constructed the massive art piece utilizing everyday workshop supplies rather than specialized fabrication materials. According to Medellin, the structure was assembled from scrap wood found around the shop, standard chicken wire, shaped insulation foam, and a length of PVC pipe to form the skewer.
The installation sits within a dedicated gallery section honoring Texas festivals, fairs, and community celebrations. According to Nalleli Guillen, the museum's vice president of interpretation and curator of history, including the popular carnival food was practically mandatory. Guillen noted that during the early planning stages of the project, colleagues made it clear that any exploration of local festival foods would be incomplete without chicken on a stick, joking that curators would have faced local backlash had it been omitted.
Museum leadership has highlighted the exhibition as a milestone achievement for the institution’s creative team. Michelle Everidge, the president and chief executive officer of the Witte Museum, described the exhibition as a showcase of the staff's unique capabilities. Everidge emphasized that producing an in-house exhibition on such an ambitious scale, complete with historically significant artifacts, represents the museum operating at its absolute best during its centennial milestone.
Beyond oversized visual attractions, "Gather 'Round the Table" investigates the cultural roots and choices behind everyday Texas cooking. The curated displays guide patrons through long-standing regional debates and culinary preferences, including classic arguments over flour versus corn tortillas as well as salsa versus guacamole. These discussions are presented alongside accessible contextual histories that illustrate what Texans cook and the underlying cultural factors that shape their culinary choices.
The exhibition also features sensory and interactive components designed to engage visitors on multiple levels. Among these features is an interactive scent station that invites guests to experience the aromas of eight distinct spices commonly utilized in Texas cooking, demonstrating the varied ingredients that define the state's diverse flavor profiles.
Another key highlight of the show is an early 20th-century pecan shadow box, which connects the state's natural history directly to its food culture. While many consumers are familiar with pecans purely as a snack or dessert ingredient, the display underscores the fact that more than 1,000 pecan varieties exist. The featured shadow box preserves the scientific work of naturalist H.P. Attwater, who systematically collected and organized regional agricultural specimens.
The shadow box contains preserved specimens of 50 distinct pecan varieties, neatly presented in groups of three. Each grouping is classified by vintage typewritten labels that identify specific cultivars, ranging from skinny May Russells and plump sweetmeats to delicate Mexican Papershells, alongside dozens of other regional varieties.
Beyond representing the agricultural foundation of dishes like pecan pie, the shadow box holds deep historical importance for the Witte Museum itself. The display is an artifact from the Attwater Collection of Natural History, which constituted the very first major collection acquired by the institution prior to its public debut.
The acquisition of the Attwater Collection was orchestrated by Ellen Schulz Quillin, a pioneering schoolteacher and botanist who went on to become the founding director of the museum. Quillin secured the collection for a sum of $5,000, funding the purchase largely through grassroots fundraising efforts that relied on small donations of nickels and dimes collected by her students.
Items from that initial Attwater purchase were among the original objects presented to the public when the institution first opened its doors as the Witte Memorial Museum on October 8, 1926. Decades later, in 1984, the institution officially shortened its name to the Witte Museum, while continuing to preserve and display foundational pieces from its earliest acquisitions.
By blending historic artifacts like the Attwater natural history specimens with contemporary, in-house installations such as the giant chicken on a stick, "Gather 'Round the Table" bridges the museum’s past century of collecting with modern Texas culture. Running through early 2027, the presentation stands as both a culinary tribute and a celebration of the museum's 100-year legacy.
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