A four-course dinner at the National Geographic Museum of Exploration this Friday is built entirely around an unlikely dining companion: bats. The sold-out event, called Explorers Table, pairs National Geographic Explorer Dr. Rodrigo Medellín, nicknamed the Bat Man of Mexico, with Washington, D.C. chef Christian Irabién for a menu meant to show diners how much of what lands on their plates depends on bat pollination.
A Scientist's Ingredient List Becomes a Menu
The idea began with Medellín, who has spent more than 40 years working on ecology and conservation in Mexico, according to the National Geographic Museum of Exploration. He handed over a list of bat-dependent fruits, vegetables and other ingredients, and Irabién, the chef-owner of Amparo Fondita near Dupont Circle, built a specialized tasting menu around it, according to reporting from DC News Now. Irabién told the outlet that his kitchen already sources much of its food straight from local farms and small family co-ops across Mexico, adjusting its own menu in response to those same growers.
The four-course dinner, scheduled for Friday from 7 to 10 p.m. at Explorers Eatery inside the museum, will feature pineapple, watermelon, plantains, coffee beans and vanilla pods, per the same DC News Now account. One course serves grasshoppers seasoned with chili and sea salt, while the meal also includes tequila produced through a Mexican certification program designed to protect bat habitat.
Why Tequila Owes Its Existence to a Bat
The connection between bats and spirits isn't incidental dinner-party trivia — it's the backbone of Medellín's career. His prized lesser long-nosed bat pollinates the cactuslike blue agave plant, the single plant species from which Mexican tequila is produced, according to National Geographic. In 2014, Medellín joined the nonprofit Tequila Interchange Project, which promotes traditional agave farming and sustainable practices, the same account notes.
Bats carry an outsized role in global food production well beyond agave. More than 530 species of flowering plants rely on bats as major or exclusive pollinators, including agave, durian and balsa trees, according to Bat Conservation International. The U.S. Forest Service separately notes that more than 300 species of fruit depend on bats for pollination, a figure describing fruit crops specifically rather than the broader plant count.
The event also connects bat conservation with Mexican spirits and traditional agave farming, alongside a menu built around bat-dependent ingredients.
National Geographic Eyes More Dinners Like This
Museum officials describe Explorers Table as the start of something bigger rather than a one-off. Jane Raleigh, National Geographic's director of museum programming, said the organization hopes to pair different explorers with different local chefs in the future, according to DC News Now, with plans to expand the concept into an ongoing series highlighting scientific research through food.
The museum is also hosting a separate Night at the Museum after-hours takeover later this week, featuring activities centered on bats, owls and Día de los Muertos celebrations, according to the same report.
Tickets for Friday's dinner are already gone, and the museum's own event page tells would-be attendees to sign up for updates on future installments rather than expect another seat at this particular table. For now, the pairing of a career conservationist and a Michelin-recommended chef stands as a test case for whether a dinner menu can make the case for bat conservation better than a lecture hall can.
