What I heard from a textile conservator once really stuck with me, that fixing up something to be used and loved is the best kind of care. It lines up with what @kevin_murray88 said about giving an item a new life instead of letting it fall apart in a box. To me, that's progress, not losing the past.

Holy crap! She thinks your personally found fossil is just decor? That's messed up. Finding a trilobite yourself is the whole point, it's not like some cheap knickknack she bought at a store. The fact she said it's "better off being seen" on her shelf is so selfish, like your connection to it means nothing. I'd be furious if someone treated a find of mine like a generic trinket.

Actually hiding food feels wrong to me, maybe @elizabethr48 has better honest savory ideas.