Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations is a 2002 cookbook by Lois Ellen Frank, food historian, cookbook author, photographer, and culinary anthropologist. [1] [2]: 188 [3] The book won a 2003 James Beard award, the first Native American cuisine cookbook so honored. [2]: 188 [4] [5] CNN called it "the first Native American cookbook to turn the heads of James Beard Foundation award judges". [6] [7]
Frank was working in advertising as a commercial photographer for mass-market food and beverage products when a mentor questioned the meaningfulness of her work, and she had a "moment of reckoning." [8] [7] She proposed a book on Native American cuisine to publishers in New York, who told her "that Native people didn't have a cuisine, and that I didn't have the credentials to write any such book." [7] She returned to school to earn a Master's and then a PhD in Cultural Anthropology, and recalls that "at the time, they were teaching that American cuisine was made up of immigrant populations. The traditions of Native kitchens were largely overlooked." [7]
The book was published in 2002 by Ten Speed Press and collects recipes from the Hopi, Ute, Pueblo, and other Southwestern tribes. [7] [9] [10]
Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations is a 2002 cookbook by Lois Ellen Frank, food historian, cookbook author, photographer, and culinary anthropologist. [1] [2]: 188 [3] The book won a 2003 James Beard award, the first Native American cuisine cookbook so honored. [2]: 188 [4] [5] CNN called it "the first Native American cookbook to turn the heads of James Beard Foundation award judges". [6] [7]
Frank was working in advertising as a commercial photographer for mass-market food and beverage products when a mentor questioned the meaningfulness of her work, and she had a "moment of reckoning." [8] [7] She proposed a book on Native American cuisine to publishers in New York, who told her "that Native people didn't have a cuisine, and that I didn't have the credentials to write any such book." [7] She returned to school to earn a Master's and then a PhD in Cultural Anthropology, and recalls that "at the time, they were teaching that American cuisine was made up of immigrant populations. The traditions of Native kitchens were largely overlooked." [7]
The book was published in 2002 by Ten Speed Press and collects recipes from the Hopi, Ute, Pueblo, and other Southwestern tribes. [7] [9] [10]