Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Salt and Pepper Shakers

As a child growing up on Belgium, Andrea Ludden was fascinated by the little saltbox in her godmother's kitchen. Ludden now owns more than 20,000 salt and pepper shaker sets which are displayed in the Museum of Salt and Pepper Shakers in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

She started scouring flea markets in the 80's when she lived in California. She was looking for a durable pepper mill to season her food. None of the contraptions seemed to work properly so she set them on her windowsill along with a few salt shakers she'd bought because of their creative designs. Her friends and neighbors thought she was collecting the sets, so they brought her bags of them.

The dispensers are in a 3200 square foot building and have been featured on the Food Network's Unwrapped show. The museum also features 1500 pepper mills. They continue to search for shakers at antique shops and malls. They still run into some they don't have. Last year they opened a second museum in Guadalest Spain.

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