For centuries, Santa Fe has charmed visitors. A central ingredient in the making of Santa Fe’s charm has been the kitchens of the city and the surrounding area. Whether in the home or in restaurants, Santa Fe kitchens reflect the diversity of the city and its residents and visitors. Blending the diverse cultures of New Mexico, Native American, Hispanic, Anglo and others, Santa Fe kitchens daily create a unique and compelling cuisine that is both local and worldly in its tastes and appeal.
The Museum of New Mexico Foundation, a private nonprofit organization, is dedicated to the support of four state museums in Santa Fe — the Palace of the Governors, the New Mexico Museum of Arts, the Museum of International Folk Art and the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture — and six historical state monuments that comprise the Museum of New Mexico. To help create our initial cookbook, Santa Fe Kitchens, the Museum of New Mexico Foundation sought recipes from its membership, local chefs, artists and dignitaries. Out of more than 1,000 recipes submitted for consideration, the experts on the Museum of New Mexico Foundation’s Cookbook Committee selected over 200 for this, our second cookbook. The recipes in the cookbook reflect the balance of Santa Fe’s cultures and lifestyle; the simple and the complex, artistic and basic, fun yet challenging, and, of course, spicy, with some of the most refreshing beverages you will ever see in a cookbook. Where else could you enjoy both Sesame Shrimp Toasts with Chile Pesto and Southwest Tomatillo Duck Triangles and wash them down with Santa Fe Lemonade but from a unique cookbook that reflects Santa Fe kitchens.
No book produced by the Museum of New Mexico Foundation on Santa Fe Kitchens would be complete without a discussion of the wonderful cultural institutions the foundation supports. Throughout the book we show works from the collections of the Museums of New Mexico, primarily featuring artwork from our Museum of Indian Arts & Culture. Having celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2007, the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture is one of the world’s most important museums devoted to Native art, and especially to the Native Americans of the Southwest. Dr. Shelby J. Tisdale, Ph.D., Director of the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture and the Laboratory of Anthropology, has written the following introduction, which relates the history and mission of this wonderful museum.
— Cookbook Committee
Among the Aspens, 1939, by E. Martin Hennings, oil on canvas. Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art, contributed in loving memory of Simon and Maud Herzstein by Isobel Herzstein Lord, 2006. Photo by Blair Clark.