New food is hitting the Smithsonian museum's cafes
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Chef Roscoe Hall's brown butter crab rice, which you can taste for free at the American History Museum's folklife event on Saturday. Photo: Courtesy Smithsonian Institution
If your idea of Smithsonian food is astronaut ice cream, get ready to actually eat: More than 30 new dishes and drinks are landing across seven museums this fall.
Why it matters: September is shaping up to be a great time to dine around the Smithsonian — from apple-cinnamon fry bread to oxtail and sake cocktails.
Driving the news: The feasting starts Saturday at the American History Museum with a free program exploring the tradition of Sunday supper.
- Birmingham chef Roscoe Hall will cook brown butter crab rice and collard greens while food historian Adrian Miller digs into the meal's history. Artists United will also perform music rooted in the Black church.
- "The Sunday supper is not just about the food and not just about the music," Smithsonian Folklife Festival foodways coordinator Lirit Gilmore tells Axios. It's about "these moments of gathering where we sit together."
The big picture: The event is part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival's "Rhythms, Roots, Recipes" series, pairing food, music and storytelling to explore American traditions during America's 250th anniversary.
Meanwhile, fall menus are rolling out across the Smithsonian, including:
- Asian Art: Beef bulgogi onigiri for Chuseok, plus spiced brown sugar oat lattes and passion-pineapple sake cocktails.
- American Indian: Apple-cinnamon fry bread and spiced lattes.
- African American History: Starting Sept. 24, Sweet Home Café — a past James Beard nominee — celebrates its 10th anniversary with braised oxtail, roast chicken, Louis Armstrong red beans with Carolina Gold rice, hand pies and more.
- American Art/Portrait Gallery: Oktoberfest brings DC Brau beers, Bavarian pretzels and toasted cheesesteaks to the Kogod Courtyard starting Sept. 19.
- Air and Space: Brown butter apple cider at Mars Café.
What's next: The Folklife series returns Nov. 8 with Hmong food and music, followed by a Ho-Chunk Nation-focused program Nov. 21.
The bottom line: At a turbulent moment for the Smithsonian, Gilmore sees the dinner table as common ground.
- "Food connects us all," she says. "It's a really important … channel into all of our lives for us to sit together, for us to learn together, for us to grow together, and for us to eat together."
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Saturday's folklife event is at the American History Museum (not the National Museum of African American History and Culture ).