Across Campus: The Edible Erie

Replicas of Erie Canal tokens made of chocolate. An Erie Canal aqueduct made of New York State Cheddar Cheese. Canal boat models made of maple sugar candy.

They were all part of the Erie Canal gala celebration on Thursday, the 175th anniversary of the opening of the waterway.

The edibles were the brainchild of Prof. Cliff Brown, chair of the Nott exhibits committee and co-curator of the exhibit with Rachel Seligman, director of the Mandeville Gallery.

Brown contacted the New York State Maple Growers Association to find people who could produce a 16-inch replica of the canal boat. Smaller versions — the ones that "floated" across the cheese aqueduct — were produced by staff in dining services.

Also featured at the gala was an ice sculpture of a colonial eagle carved by George Ferro of dining services, and commemorative wine goblets, an idea from Bill Schwarz, director of communications. Callie Stacey, also of dining services, oversaw the production of the foil-wrapped chocolate tokens.

So, the question is ... when do we get to eat all this stuff? Not so fast, warns Brown, who plans to use the cheese aqueduct and maple canal boat for the final event of the Erie Canal celebration on Saturday. (They'll be wrapped and refrigerated until then, of course.)

"I can assure you that the maple candy canal boat will not go to waste," Brown says, adding, "There's a diabetes screening on campus this week. It might be a good idea to go get checked out."