4 ms·

If you’re in DC try http://www.mitsitamcafe.com/ http://www.mitsitamcafe.com/ in the Native American Museum. My partner has been on a Navajo Indian reservation

by rdtsc 5y ago

If you’re in DC try http://www.mitsitamcafe.com/ http://www.mitsitamcafe.com/ in the Native American Museum. My partner has been on a Navajo Indian reservation and some of the food was good but most was sort of bland. Sadly, after being driven to these reservations one of the staple foods in the diet became fry bread. It is not the healthiest. Also, it is hard to have a restaurant selling traditional foods like squash when many tribes don’t grow it and eat it themselves, because well, it doesn’t grow in the desert.

mythrwy 5y ago
I live in New Mexico squash grows great here. But ya, can second, Fry Bread and really fatty mutton seem to be staples. Plus whatever everyone else eats (Burger King, lunchables and Gas Station Hot Dogs). My theory is native squash just doesn't taste that good. Sort of like how Anglos switched from boiled parsnips (have you ever eaten that? I haven't) in 1200AD to French Fries and Pizza now. I went to a Navajo buffet once. They did have a little traditional food (mutton, fry bread) but most was just mashed potatoes and stuff you might find at Golden Corral. The native stuff was not very tasty at all as I recall, (this was years ago) and I never went back.
- Nursie 5y ago
  Who boils a parsnip? They should be roasted, preferably in duck fat, and are delicious :)
  - klyrs 5y ago
    They go well in stew, like most root vegetables.
    - Nursie 5y ago
      Also true :) I guess you could call that boiling of a sort.
      - klyrs 5y ago
        Indeed. Nobody likes the sound of "boiled meat" but stew is another story altogether.
  - hydrok9 5y ago
    they are also excellent fried!
- vba616 5y ago
  >Sort of like how Anglos switched from boiled parsnips (have you ever eaten that? I haven't) in 1200AD to French Fries and Pizza now. Canada produces 5000 tons of parsnips a year! At least as of 2015 or so. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/parsnip https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/parsnip There's lots of things you can do with parsnips... Baked Parsnips With Fruit Parsnip Pie Parsnip Tart Parsnip Wine Parsnip-soffrito Soup Parsnip-pecan Cake Sauteed parsnip slices Parsnip Latkes with Lox and Horseradish Creme Maple Glazed Parsnips on Kale Slow Cooker Parsnip and Apple Soup Carrot, Parsnip and Potato Gratin Carrot-Parsnip Bisque Parsnip, Pear and Pecan Salad Agave Roasted Parsnips ...I guess that's about all.
  - jbay808 5y ago
    Parsnips are probably my favourite root vegetable. So much flavour!
    - Mikeb85 5y ago
      Meh, they're at the bottom for me. I'd rather have celeriac, carrots, beets, turnips, potato, etc...
  - bregma 5y ago
    I had parsnip ice cream at an upscale place in Dublin once. Not too bad. Same place had a sumac sorbet that was divine.
- chrisseaton 5y ago
  Parsnips are a pretty common food in the UK, found in any supermarket. Boiled or in a stew or roasted, just like you would a carrot.
- OJFord 5y ago
  > Sort of like how Anglos switched from boiled parsnips (have you ever eaten that? I haven't) in 1200AD to French Fries and Pizza now. I would guess parsnips (I don't know about boiled (only) though! Meh) are at least as common here in the UK as frites, as distinct from chips to any Briton. But then squash (off the top of my head not sure if it'd be NM's export at any time of year though) and mashed potatoes (and to a lesser extent mutton, much more lamb) are perfectly popular here too, so not really sure what my point is.
AlotOfReading 5y ago
Traditional varieties of squash absolutely grow in the desert. It's not super common on the Navajo res to my knowledge, but the Hopi and O'odham reservations have sustenance and large scale commercial farming. But as a fun fact, the three sisters were often grown dryland on as little as a single rainstorm in pre-contact times. Some of those areas average around 40mm of rain a year.
- rdtsc 5y ago
  Well I stand corrected. Thanks for pointing it out. My parents grew squash. I was forced to eat it so much in fact I still dislike it even though I know it’s healthy. We grew it in a continental climate, black soil, regular rain so I assumed automatically it needed those conditions.
jcranmer 5y ago
I can definitely recommend the café in the Museum of the American Indian in DC. It's probably the best food on the National Mall (the only other real contender is the African-American Museum), and is a rare example of museum food actually being good enough to go to if you weren't already at the museum.
bluedino 5y ago
I find it odd that Native Americans didn't make cheese.
- mellavora 5y ago
  hmm, given the amount of milk they had available, hmmm

by rdtsc 5y ago

mythrwy 5y ago

I live in New Mexico squash grows great here. But ya, can second, Fry Bread and really fatty mutton seem to be staples. Plus whatever everyone else eats (Burger King, lunchables and Gas Station Hot Dogs). My theory is native squash just doesn't taste that good. Sort of like how Anglos switched from boiled parsnips (have you ever eaten that? I haven't) in 1200AD to French Fries and Pizza now. I went to a Navajo buffet once. They did have a little traditional food (mutton, fry bread) but most was just mashed potatoes and stuff you might find at Golden Corral. The native stuff was not very tasty at all as I recall, (this was years ago) and I never went back.

Nursie 5y ago
Who boils a parsnip? They should be roasted, preferably in duck fat, and are delicious :)
- klyrs 5y ago
  They go well in stew, like most root vegetables.
  - Nursie 5y ago
    Also true :) I guess you could call that boiling of a sort.
    - klyrs 5y ago
      Indeed. Nobody likes the sound of "boiled meat" but stew is another story altogether.
- hydrok9 5y ago
  they are also excellent fried!
vba616 5y ago
>Sort of like how Anglos switched from boiled parsnips (have you ever eaten that? I haven't) in 1200AD to French Fries and Pizza now. Canada produces 5000 tons of parsnips a year! At least as of 2015 or so. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/parsnip https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/parsnip There's lots of things you can do with parsnips... Baked Parsnips With Fruit Parsnip Pie Parsnip Tart Parsnip Wine Parsnip-soffrito Soup Parsnip-pecan Cake Sauteed parsnip slices Parsnip Latkes with Lox and Horseradish Creme Maple Glazed Parsnips on Kale Slow Cooker Parsnip and Apple Soup Carrot, Parsnip and Potato Gratin Carrot-Parsnip Bisque Parsnip, Pear and Pecan Salad Agave Roasted Parsnips ...I guess that's about all.
- jbay808 5y ago
  Parsnips are probably my favourite root vegetable. So much flavour!
  - Mikeb85 5y ago
    Meh, they're at the bottom for me. I'd rather have celeriac, carrots, beets, turnips, potato, etc...
- bregma 5y ago
  I had parsnip ice cream at an upscale place in Dublin once. Not too bad. Same place had a sumac sorbet that was divine.
chrisseaton 5y ago
Parsnips are a pretty common food in the UK, found in any supermarket. Boiled or in a stew or roasted, just like you would a carrot.
OJFord 5y ago
> Sort of like how Anglos switched from boiled parsnips (have you ever eaten that? I haven't) in 1200AD to French Fries and Pizza now. I would guess parsnips (I don't know about boiled (only) though! Meh) are at least as common here in the UK as frites, as distinct from chips to any Briton. But then squash (off the top of my head not sure if it'd be NM's export at any time of year though) and mashed potatoes (and to a lesser extent mutton, much more lamb) are perfectly popular here too, so not really sure what my point is.

AlotOfReading 5y ago

Traditional varieties of squash absolutely grow in the desert. It's not super common on the Navajo res to my knowledge, but the Hopi and O'odham reservations have sustenance and large scale commercial farming. But as a fun fact, the three sisters were often grown dryland on as little as a single rainstorm in pre-contact times. Some of those areas average around 40mm of rain a year.

rdtsc 5y ago
Well I stand corrected. Thanks for pointing it out. My parents grew squash. I was forced to eat it so much in fact I still dislike it even though I know it’s healthy. We grew it in a continental climate, black soil, regular rain so I assumed automatically it needed those conditions.

jcranmer 5y ago

I can definitely recommend the café in the Museum of the American Indian in DC. It's probably the best food on the National Mall (the only other real contender is the African-American Museum), and is a rare example of museum food actually being good enough to go to if you weren't already at the museum.

bluedino 5y ago

I find it odd that Native Americans didn't make cheese.

mellavora 5y ago
hmm, given the amount of milk they had available, hmmm