Original Local: Indigenous Foods, Stories, and Recipes from the Upper Midwest

Readers will find many unique and exciting dishes, yet also many contradictions, in Erdrich’s book of indigenous foods. The Cowboy Kicker Beans contains Famous Dave’s barbecue sauce, and the Decolonized Green Bean Casserole is made with potato flakes. A squash-pie recipe calls for evaporated milk. Many other recipes contain allspice, paprika, turmeric, white flour, granulated sugar, butter, sour cream, mozzarella cheese, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pad thai noodles, and saltine crackers. Even so, amid stories, poetry, and folktales, Erdrich introduces cooking that reveres the use of rice, corn, vegetables, meats, fish, herbs, berries, and plants used for tea, and she informs readers of hard-fought tribal efforts to preserve Native American food sources and other natural resources. She also promotes an appreciation for less common ingredients, such as sunchokes, fern fiddleheads, clover, and juniper berries. Those seeking to learn about indigenous food-preparation methods may be disappointed, and some narrative passages are a bit overwrought and confusing. Even so, these recipes possess a special flair, taking their inspiration from Native American culture. –Susan DeGrane