Announcing the Museum of Food and Drink Lab

As we like to say around here, brace.

Today, I'm incredibly excited to announce a first of its kind partnership between Eater, the soon to be iconic cultural institution the Museum of Food and Drink, and our brand partner Infiniti. With the help of Infiniti, the nascent museum — which has existed in various dream states for the last five years — will launch its very first longterm exhibition/lab space. And with the help of Vox Creative, our in-house creative studio, we'll be taking you behind the scenes and will offer a 360-degree view of everything that's going on with MOFAD and its growing number of exhibits.

First, brass tacks. The MOFAD lab opens on October 28, at 62 Bayard Street, right off of McCarren Park in Williamsburg. The gallery will serve as the museum's home for the next five years as the founders work to nail down a larger, more permanent location where they can build the real museum. The first exhibition will run through the end of February and will focus on the topic of flavor.

As for content here on Eater, expect tutorials on food science from the likes of MOFAD's Dave Arnold, Emma Boast, and Harold McGee; some intensive looks into how the Museum of Food and Drink came to be and what it takes in general to build a cultural institution in New York; an exploration of the reverse engineering of flavor; a look at the how olfaction plays a role in tasting the flavors of food; and a whole lot more.

Why is all of this happening? The promise of what founder Dave Arnold is hoping to build is an exciting one: a museum where visitors can smell, taste, and feel the exhibits, where food culture and history, science and production, commerce and politics will be seen as essential parts of the human experience. It will be fun, enriching, interactive, enlightening — an icon that could cement this modern day food-obsession as far more than just a passing fad. We at Eater are on board with Arnold's visions and are happy to do our small part to make it happen.

Read more about MOFAD's programming and learn about the mechanics and science behind flavors over here.