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Visitors can shop at 30 “made in New York” food and beverage vendors at the New York State Museum’s Taste NY Holiday Market on Sunday, December 2 from 11:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Admission is free.

Vendors will offer samples and sales of chocolates; cheese; maple products; hand-crafted beer, wine, spirits and cider; and other edible gifts. All participating vendors produce their products in New York State. There will also be cooking demonstrations, educational activities and a chocolate fountain station courtesy of We Do Fondue and Price Chopper/Market 32. For more information, including a list of vendors, visit the Museum’s website. 

Following is a schedule of demonstrations and educational activities at the event:
 

• Lavada Nahon – Culinary Historian (11:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.): Enjoy learning about the diverse foodways of New Netherland and early New York. Explore how the lives and cultures of the Dutch mixed with those of the English, enslaved Africans, French, Germans, Jews and others to create a vibrant foundation found nowhere else in colonial America.
   
• Second Regiment of the Albany County Militia – Colonial Foodways (11:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.): Explore 18^th century food in both the military and the home front. Enjoy everything from beer to bread and learn how our founding mothers and fathers ate during the American Revolution.
   
• Paul Supley – Chocolate Historian (11:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.): Enjoy historic foodways at their sweetest with culinary historian Paul Supley of Van Wyckes Chocolate House. Van Wyckes Chocolate House explores the importance of chocolate in the 18th century through hands-on engagement. Discover the historical uses of chocolate as a medicine, a breakfast food and a pleasurable treat. Explore the material culture behind the making of chocolate and take the opportunity to discuss with Mr. Supley the different ways 18^th century New Yorkers enjoyed one of our favorite guilty pleasures.
   
• Cooking Demo with Chef Michael Lapi (1:00 – 2:00 p.m.): Focusing on fresh ingredients from local farms in the Mohawk Valley, Chef Lapi will cook up a recipe perfect for holiday entertaining.

The annual Holiday Tree Lighting and Fireworks Festival at the Empire State Plaza will also be held on December 2.

Taste NY is an initiative that highlights the quality, diversity, and economic impact of New York’s food and beverage industry. Taste NY provides an opportunity for New York growers and producers to receive increased exposure of their products to consumers, restaurateurs, retailers, wholesalers, and distributors.

The State Museum is a program of the New York State Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education. Located at 222 Madison Avenue in Albany, the Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It is closed on the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. Admission is free. Further information about programs and events can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the Museum website.