Connections between phở and mulled wine
Opening of the new exhibition on spices from Vietnam
Cinnamon, star anise and cardamom – this aromatic trio gives the Vietnamese noodle soup phở its characteristic flavour. The same combination is also found in European mulled wine. On 28 August 2025, at 6 pm, we will open the exhibition "Symphởny of Spices", which traces the complex historical and current entanglements of these spices – from local cultivation to global markets, from their use in cooking and medicine to the emotional dimensions of scents and aromas. The exhibition will run until September 2026 and be accompanied by guided tours and events.
The opportunity to present an exhibition on spices from Vietnam came up thanks to Prof. Dr. Annuska Derks, Professor of Social Anthropology at the Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies ISEK at the University of Zurich. From February to July 2025, the transition period between the retirement of our former director Mareile Flitsch and the appointment of our new director Alice Hertzog, she led the museum ad interim.
We are delighted that Annuska Derks was willing to take on this task in addition to organising her own exhibition. "Symphởny of Spices" is the first exhibition on Vietnam ever held at our museum. It is based on long-term collaborative research conducted by the Vietnam expert together with Prof. Dr. Sarah Turner from McGill University in Canada. Vietnamese researcher Ngô Thúy Hạnh, Prof. Derks' PhD student Nguyễn Hà Phương and a group of Social Anthropology students at ISEK also made significant contributions to the exhibition. We would like to express our sincere thanks to all of them for this multifaceted exhibition on this culturally, socially and culinarily significant topic.
We would especially like to thank our colleague Annuska Derks for her willingness to temporarily manage our museum and represent it on university committees. Attentive, competent and approachable, she ensured continuity during the transition period and took responsibility for the staff. Thank you!
Team Ethnographic Museum UZH