If you are going to be in Amsterdam between, say, now and October, 2007, and you have time enough to take the train to some of the spots outside the Netherland's most famous metropole, the 'Eten' exhibit at the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde in Leiden might be worth your time. For this year, and this year only, this ethnographic museum is putting on display an essential, but often overlooked, aspect of culture, namely what various peoples of our illustrious planet consider 'good to eat'.

Designed to resemble a warehouse, the main part of the exhibit displays all sorts of food and food preparation items collected over the past 200 years from all regions of the Earth - shark fins, roasted crickets, and jars upon jars of sea cucumbers, nuts, insects, and various fishy bits. In addition to this 'usual fare' there are a number of interactive displays: a computer terminal which accesses a database of all the last meals served to death row inmates in the United States since the reinstation of the death penalty there some 30 years ago; a table in the middle of the exhibit where one lucky couple a day may order lunch and have their dining experience projected onto the wall for all to see; and an outdoor tent where one can participate in various food preparation workshops including, but not limited to, the art of sushi.

Finally, and I have saved the best course for last, at the end of the exhibit be sure to browse the shop where one can buy all sorts of goodies ranging from cookbooks, exotic kitchen wares, olive oils, sauces, roasted crickets, chocolate covered ants, and, my favorite, suckers with your choice of scorpion, cricket, or worm suspended in fruit flavored goodness. Don't worry. They're sugar free!