Edible exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian
Museum-goers get to feast their
eyes on exquisite works of art or fascinating artifacts.
Now at a number of cultural institutions around the country, they
also can indulge their taste buds with fare that complements these
venues’ exhibits.
At Washington, D.C.’s National Museum of the American Indian’s
Mitsitam Native Foods Cafe, for example, visitors looking for an
authentic bite to eat can savor Quahog clam chowder, cream of
peanut soup and cedar-planked juniper salmon, all traditional
regional specialities of indigenous Americans.
“Our chefs worked with a Native American food consultant and
did a year’s worth of research before the café opened,” says Gina
Zimmer, vice president of marketing for New York City-based
Restaurant Associates, which manages the eateries for 15 museums in
the United States. Mitsitam is just the company’s latest project
that uses food to enhance the museum experience.
“We started three years ago with the baseball exhibit at the
Museum of Natural History in New York City,” says Zimmer. “We set
up an area of the cafeteria that offered 10 different types of hot
dogs served at ballparks around the country.”
Last month, Restaurant Associates embarked on a more highbrow
endeavor: a menu to celebrate the spectacular Salvador Dali exhibit
at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Among the flamboyant artist’s
Iberian favorites available in both the museum’s café and
higher-end restaurant during the exhibit: salt cod fritters,
Serrano ham-wrapped trout and crème Catalan on an anis pastry
crisp. The museum also offers the Dali-themed foods for private
events.