Ladies and Gentlemen, you are cordially invited to participate in the project Museum of taste.

Maribor Regional Museum is working on a virtual museum collection with the working title Museum of taste. The collection is divided into five sections: Sweet, Savoury, Sour, Bitter, Spicy. It will include YOUR items connected to a specific flavour.

What is flavour?

Taste is one of the five basic senses and it's directly linked to smell. We taste on the surface of the tongue, on the soft palate and in the throat. We mainly taste food and drink that we see and smell beforehand; we also decide whether we like it or not based on flavour.

Why flavour - firstly?

The Dictionary of Slovene Literary Language the entry okús -a m (ȗ) defines taste as 1. the sense of perceiving the characteristics of a substance, especially food, by means of the gustatory organ in the mouth; the characteristic of a substance, especially food, which is perceived by this sense; the sensation as caused by these characteristics; 2. criteria on the pleasant and unpleasant aspects of food.

Flavour also has emotional value - the memory of taste can make us feel calm, secure, happy, or insecure, timid, irritated. Everyone is different. Sometimes we can't work out why, other times we know quite precisely what the taste reminds us of - a person, a place, an event, an occasion, a habit, a time... Taste as a sensory perception can carry many precious memories.

Why flavour - secondly?

The Dictionary of Slovene Literary Language also defines taste as 3. criteria of what is beautiful, appropriate, harmonious; the ability to judge correctly what is beautiful, appropriate, harmonious: e.g. tastes vary.

Taste develops over time: what we once thought was nice or good may later be ugly or bad. Taste also changes with fashion, and especially with changing social values. It's not just ten-year-old trousers or a threadbare carpet. We can also find a viewpoint sour, a memory bitter, a promise sweet, a remark tasteless, even though hidden thoughts may be quite spicy...

Why objects?

Museums document, evaluate, interpret and research, preserve, conserve and restore, manage, provide access to and present objects of movable cultural heritageto the public. Museums collect, organise, preserve and professionally process objects so that they can be studied, interpreted, linked to modernity and exhibited to visitors.

YOUR objects have subjective value - they mean something different to you than to the general public. That is the source of their special museum value, which you yourself reveal in a short story.

How to participate?

The name museum comes from the classical Greek word mouseion, which means seat, sanctuary of the Muses. Aware of the origin of the name, Maribor Regional Museum will try to awaken the muses:

• reflect on the tastes and flavours in your life - at the table and away from it,
• recall moments that you associate with a particular flavour in your memory,
• think of an object included in the event,
• take a photo of your chosen object,
• write a short composition about the occasion/event/taste sensation (1,500 - 3,000 characters),
• complete the attached questionnaire,
• please send the completed questionnaire, the composition and a photo (or photos) to the following email address museum@museum-mb.si

What will come of it?

The Maribor Regional Museum will launch a virtual collection called Museum of taste, which aims to present the development, dimensions and importance of taste in shaping individual and social history through the objects on display and the accompanying texts. The collection will be alive - it will be added to and changed.

Taste - that powerful, intimate sense - can be the generator of a vivid mosaic of time and pulse.

Let's give it a try!