"When it comes to the flavors, we come from a game meat background—a lot of buffalo, a lot of deer, turkey, quail. And we come from a veggie background, veggies and grains. We eat in season, meaning what is available in the seasons. We're in winter time, so of course we have a lot of soups and stews. When it comes to harvesting of the meat, that's where you're filling yourself up with a lot of meats. But then, as you go into spring and summer, you have a lot of the veggies, and the land has more to offer."
Crystal Wahpepah, owner of Wahpepah's Kitchen in Oakland, is reviving Indigenous food traditions lost during European colonization. Her upcoming cookbook, A Feather and a Fork: 125 Intertribal Recipes From an Indigenous Food Warrior, combines Native American culinary stories with recipes featuring bison, game meats, wild rice, acorns, and seasonal vegetables. The book contrasts Indigenous Three Sisters crops with modern monocultural farming and emphasizes reconnecting with the land through seasonal eating. Wahpepah learned cooking from her grandmother in Oklahoma while also receiving formal training at Le Cordon Bleu, blending traditional Indigenous knowledge with professional culinary techniques. Her recipes include bison roast with chokeberry rub, acorn muffins, and wild rice fritters, representing a pre-colonial cuisine rooted in game meats, vegetables, and grains harvested according to seasonal availability.
#indigenous-cuisine #native-american-food-traditions #seasonal-cooking #pre-colonial-recipes #food-sovereignty
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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