Gatherings Café is a quaint breakfast and lunch spot that offers classic dishes like melts, tacos, and egg scrambles, but with a unique twist: many of the ingredients are native to the Americas.
Bison and turkey serve as the main proteins, while pork, chicken, and beef are absent from the menu. Wild rice and corn appear in many dishes, and some ingredients are only available seasonally, reflecting the cafe’s commitment to Indigenous culinary traditions.
Located within the Minneapolis American Indian Center, Gatherings Café has been serving Indigenous food for the past decade. Last summer, the café reopened as a sit-down breakfast and lunch restaurant following a $32.5 million renovation and expansion of the center.
The new dining and kitchen space allows the café to serve more people and have a larger presence on Franklin Avenue. The café also reopened with an expanded staff and menu, with new items like teas and baked goods.
Gatherings Café is part of a growing movement in Minneapolis and across Turtle Island that celebrates and honors Indigenous foods that have been part of Native people’s diets for thousands of years.
The café prioritizes accessibility and health, serving familiar dishes with ingredients not often found on restaurant menus, such as bison. Many of the ingredients are locally sourced and come from Native businesses and producers. The walleye fish is sourced from Red Lake. The bison comes from a tribe in Wisconsin.
“The food is approachable,” said Executive Chef Vernon DeFoe (Red Cliff Anishinaabe). “Through the café, I want to help normalize better eating habits and healthier foods. If people are introduced to bison, squash, and wild rice here, they may eventually add those foods to their own pantries and fridges.”
Promoting healthier lifestyles is a big priority for the Minneapolis American Indian Center; Native adults are almost three times as likely to have Type 2 diabetes compared to white adults – a disparity rooted in the lasting impacts of colonization, including higher poverty rates and limited access to nutritious food. Gatherings Café is working to address these inequities by making healthy Indigenous food accessible and approachable.
“The negative health impacts of our modern food system are worse for Native people compared to European descendants because our bodies haven’t evolved to eat foods like dairy and bread,” DeFoe said. “Increasing access to fresh foods that are native to the Americas is one of the best ways we can support community health.”
A commitment to community is at the heart of the café’s mission.
“We’re rooted in cooking food for the greater community,” DeFoe said. “The goal is to share a meal, nourish our relatives, and empower them to bring this knowledge into their own homes.”
Gatherings Café is located at 1530 E. Franklin Ave. Minneapolis, MN 55404. It is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.