VOA标准英语2011--Museum Serves Up Native American-Inspired Feast

Museum Serves Up Native American-Inspired Feast

 

This Thursday, most Americans will gather with loved ones to celebrate Thanksgiving, an annual holiday inspired by a harvest feast held in 1621 in Massachusetts when English colonists¹ and members of the Wampanoag tribe reportedly celebrated² for three days.

Americans in search of inspiration for their holiday meal might want to visit the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., to see what’s on the menu at its cafeteria.

Turkey with cranberry³ sauce is a traditional entree⁴ on Thanksgiving, and it is one of the more popular offerings at the appropriately named Mitsitam Café. The name comes from the Delaware Piscataway word for “let’s eat.”

Diners can choose from 75 to 100 different items inspired by Native cultures from across the Western Hemisphere. Like salmon⁵ from the Pacific Northwest coast, wild rice and watercress salad from the northern woodlands, and cornmeal masa cakes from Mesoamerica.

The ingredients are traditional, but the dishes have a contemporary spin. “We don’t represent it in a way Native Americans would have eaten it pre-contact or even post contact with the settlers or the Europeans,” executive chef Richard Hetzler says.

The sampler plate at the American Indian museum contains grilled6 bison and salmon, roasted butternut squash, wild rice salad, and Peruvian lima bean salad.

Visitors to the museum want food that tastes good, Hetzler says, but Native Americans in the past were more concerned with survival. “Their cornbreads were very dry and dense⁷, because they needed something that wouldn’t mold, something that would last.”

That would be a hard sell to tourists, but masa cakes topped with vegetables and chipotle cheese sauce are not.

As for the traditional Thanksgiving foods, Hetzler says turkey probably would have been served at that historic feast in 1621. “Because it was abundant and plentiful⁸. Venison would have probably been on the menu. Would they have done a lobster⁹ bread pudding or a wild rice salad? I don’t know.”

Those foods are on Mitsitam’s holiday take-home menu, along with pumpkin¹⁰ soup and wild mushrooms cooked with corn meal. Thanksgiving is the one time of year the restaurant offers catering¹¹.

The rest of the year, Mitsitam Café is strictly¹² an eat-in establishment. Prices are more than you’d pay at other cafeterias, but as one customer pointed¹³ out, “It is like a good restaurant, which I don’t think people expect when they go to a museum.”

Inside a museum or not, there are foods here, you won’t find at any other Washington restaurant. Even the hamburgers have a unique native flavor. They're made with buffalo¹⁴, not beef. You can also get a gourmet¹⁵ burger made with fresh-ground buffalo and duck meat.

1 colonists   

n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Colonists from Europe populated many parts of the Americas. 欧洲的殖民者移居到了美洲的许多地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some of the early colonists were cruel to the native population. 有些早期移居殖民地的人对当地居民很残忍。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

3 cranberry   

n.梅果

参考例句：

• Turkey reminds me of cranberry sauce.火鸡让我想起梅果酱。
• Actually I prefer canned cranberry sauce.事实上我更喜欢罐装的梅果酱。

4 entree   

n.入场权，进入权

参考例句：

• She made a graceful entree into the ballroom.她进入舞厅时显示非常优雅。
• Her wealth and reputation gave her entree into upper-class circles.她的财富和声望使她得以进入上层社会。

5 salmon   

n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的

参考例句：

• We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
• Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗？

6 grilled   

adj. 烤的, 炙过的, 有格子的 动词grill的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• He was grilled for two hours before the police let him go. 他被严厉盘查了两个小时后，警察才放他走。
• He was grilled until he confessed. 他被严加拷问，直到他承认为止。

7 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

8 plentiful   

adj.富裕的，丰富的

参考例句：

• Their family has a plentiful harvest this year.他们家今年又丰收了。
• Rainfall is plentiful in the area.这个地区雨量充足。

9 lobster   

n.龙虾，龙虾肉

参考例句：

• The lobster is a shellfish.龙虾是水生贝壳动物。
• I like lobster but it does not like me.我喜欢吃龙虾，但它不适宜于我的健康。

10 pumpkin   

n.南瓜

参考例句：

• They ate turkey and pumpkin pie.他们吃了火鸡和南瓜馅饼。
• It looks like there is a person looking out of the pumpkin!看起来就像南瓜里有人在看着你！

11 catering   

n. 给养

参考例句：

• Most of our work now involves catering for weddings. 我们现在的工作多半是承办婚宴。
• Who did the catering for your son's wedding? 你儿子的婚宴是由谁承办的？

12 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

13 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

14 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

15 gourmet   

n.食物品尝家；adj.出于美食家之手的

参考例句：

• What does a gourmet writer do? 美食评论家做什么？
• A gourmet like him always eats in expensive restaurants.像他这样的美食家总是到豪华的餐馆用餐。