By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
FINANCIAL DISTRICT — Plans for a hotly anticipated Native American food truck for Bowling Green have been scrapped.
The Parks Department dropped the idea after receiving no responses to a request for proposals they put out earlier this year, a spokesman said.
The idea for what likely would have been the city's first Native American food cart came from the National Museum of the American Indian, which overlooks Bowling Green.
The museum hoped to entice people to learn more about Native American culture by giving them a taste of bison, frybread, tamales and other traditional foods.
"We're disappointed," said Ann Marie Sekeres, spokeswoman for the museum. "Apparently running a cart is a more complex operation than we had anticipated."
Sekeres said she had expected several vendors to apply, including Smithsonian Enterprises which runs the museum's gift shop.
The museum is now exploring other ways of bringing Native American food to local residents, workers and visitors, but Sekeres did not give any details.
Like the museum, the food truck could have focused on any of the native traditions in North and South America.
While many restaurants in New York offer flavors that reflect native Central and South American roots, Sekeres said she did not know of any establishment that offers traditional foods from the northeastern United States, which are often based on corn, squash and beans.
The city does not plan to try a second time to find a Native American food truck operator. A Parks spokesman said Bowling Green already has a semi-weekly greenmarket and a specialty pretzel cart.
