Smithsonian food exhibit opens June 25 in Payson

(Phoenix, AZ) - The Smithsonian Institution's traveling exhibition of Key Ingredients: America by Food will make it's last stop in Arizona at Payson Public Library.

The tour began last October 2010 in Topawa and has traveled to six different regions throughout Arizona.

Key Ingredients will open this weekend in Payson on Saturday, June 25 and will run through Sunday, August 7, 2011.

Payson Public Library
328 N. McLane Rd.
Payson, AZ 85541

Exhibition Days and Hours
Tuesdays through Fridays: 9 AM to 6 PM
Saturdays: 10 AM to 2 PM

About Key Ingredients: American by Food
This Smithsonian exhibition provides an entertaining and informative overview of our country's diverse regional cooking and eating traditions, and investigates how culture, ethnicity, landscape, and tradition influence foods and flavors we enjoy across the nation. Our recipes, menus, ceremonies, and etiquette are directly affected by our country's rich ethnic diversity, by the history and innovations of food preparation technology, and by the ever-changing availability of key ingredients. At the local level, the Smithsonian's Key Ingredients inspires the gathering, celebration, and preservation of the finest of what rural America has to offer.

Special Features of the Payson Exhibit
· A 1940s kitchen display with antique stove and utensils
· Historic and current cookbook display
· Vintage apron & kitchen linens display
· Local recipes collage
· Discount passes to Anna Mae Deming's historic kitchen at the Rim Country Museum

Key Ingredients Events in Payson:
· AHC Speaker presentation on Arizona foods
· Extreme Couponing class
· Fry bread sales by Fry Bread for Families
· Rim Country Classic Auto Club appearance
· Picnic in a Jar cooking classes
· Demonstration of "How to Deep-Pit Meat" with Albert Hunt

Payson Recipe CardFeatured Recipe

COWBELLE FRY BREAD
Courtesy of Lena Aja as adapted from her entry in The Chuck Box, a cookbook produced by the Northern Arizona Chapter of the Arizona State Cowbelles, a women's professional organization that promotes the ranching industry.

Click here to download the recipe card: http://www.azhumanities.org/pdf/ki/Payson Recipe Card.pdf

Fry Bread in Payson, Arizona

In Payson, as elsewhere in the Southwest, fry bread is a popular attraction at many festivals, rodeos, and Native American pow-wows. No silverware is needed, as you simply top the fry bread with your desired ingredients, roll it up, and eat. If topped with ground beef or beans to make a "Navajo taco," people often add lettuce, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, and green chiles to complete the dish. Fry bread is in our bones and hearts here in Payson, bringing us together in times of both celebration and need, and reminding us of comfort and home.

About the Arizona Humanities Council
www.azhumanities.org

The Arizona Humanities Council, founded in 1973, is an independent nonprofit organization that works in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Arizona Humanities Council builds a just and civil society by creating opportunities to explore our shared human experiences through discussion, learning and reflection.