The Culinary Institute of America

The Chuck Williams Culinary Arts Museum, located at The Culinary Institute of America at Copia, in Napa, CA, is home to more than 4,000 culinary artifacts from the Williams Sonoma founder’s personal collection. The exhibit includes a collection of early examples of food choppers.

One hundred years before food processors became ubiquitous in American home kitchens, there were ingenious hand-cranked food choppers to help cooks cut meat and vegetables. Examples from our collection include the Starrett meat and vegetable chopper from 1877, as well as the cast iron and steel Enterprise Vegetable Slicer made in Philadelphia between 1876 - 1900. We owe a debt of gratitude to these ingenious creations for paving the way for the convenient food processors we enjoy today.

Learn more about the museum and visiting hours: https://www.ciaatcopia.com/chuck-williams-culinary-arts-museum/

Watch videos about a selection of museum artifacts: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVtTKvDDq_huEOZFb2GNC3ybFk_WnGFyX

Special thanks to Williams Sonoma Inc. Corporate Archives for sharing photography for use in this video series.