Book dossier

The Mitsitam Cafe Cookbook

by Richard Hetzler

Since the 2004 opening of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., the museum’s Mitsitam Cafe (mitsitam means "let’s eat" in the Piscataway and Delaware languages) enhances the museum experience by providing visitors the opportunity to enjoy indigenous cuisines of the Americas. Drawing upon tribal culinary traditions from five regions—Northern Woodlands, Great Plains, North Pacific Coast, Mesoamerica, and South America—the cafe’s offerings feature staples that were once unknown in the rest of the world. The book contains 90 easy-to-follow, home-tested recipes. The foods -- appetizers, soups, salads, main courses, tacos, side dishes, sauces and salsas, breads, desserts and drinks -- range from more basic and traditional (Fry Bread) to more fanciful (Green Papaya and Sea Bass with Amarillo Vinaigrette). While Chef Hetzler doesn't contribute any other text, each recipe is preceded with notes (by the book's project editor Sally Barrows) that are quite entertaining and instructive -- even poignant. Replete with beautiful photographs of the finished dishes as well as approximately 800,000 objects and archival photographs from the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, representing over 10,000 years of history from more than 1,000 indigenous cultures of the Americas. "The Mitsitam Cafe Cookbook" won "Best in the World" Cookbook for the "Best Local Cuisine" category of 2010 from Gourmand at the Paris Cookbook Fair. Further, the Cafe is the Winner of the 2012 "Best Casual Dining Restaurant" by RAMW, Zagat Rated and Featured in Gluten Free Dining.