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

by Heid E. Erdrich

Local foods have garnered much attention in recent years, but the concept is hardly indigenous peoples have always made the most of nature's gifts. Their menus were truly the "original local," celebrated here in 135 home-tested recipes paired with stories from tribal activists, food researchers, families, and chefs.

A chapter devoted to wild rice makes clear the crucial role manoomin plays in Native cultures. Similar attention is lavished on the tallest of the Three mandamin, or corn. The bounty of the region's lakes and streams—walleye, whitefish, and more—inspire flavorful combinations and fierce protection of resources. Health concerns have encouraged Ojibwe, Dakota, and Lakota cooks to return to, and revise, recipes for bison, venison, and wild game. Sections on vegetables and beans, herbs and tea, and maple and berries offer insight from a broad representation of regional tribes, including Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Potawatomi, and Mandan gardeners and harvesters.

The innovative recipes collected here—from Maple Baked Cranberry Beans to Three Sisters Salsa, from Manoomin Lasagna to Black and Blue Bison Stew—will inspire home cooks not only to make better use of the foods all around them but also to honor the storied heritage they represent.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Nonfiction, Indigenous, Cooking, Reference, Native American

272 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2013

About the author

Heid E. Erdrich writes and publishes poetry and non-fiction. Her NEW book of poems, Cell Traffic, a new and selected from University of Arizona Press, IS NOW AVAILABLE. Please consider buying it from www.birchbarkbooks.com

Heid's most recent book of poems, National Monuments from Michigan State University Press, won the 2009 Minnesota Book Award. Heid Erdrich teaches writing workshops, often as a guest at various colleges and universities. Each year she leads the Turtle Mountain Writers Workshop on her home reservation in North Dakota. Heid also works with American Indian visual artists as a curator and arts advocate. Author of the play "Curiosities," she collaborates broadly on multi-discilinary performances of other artists as well.

Founder of Wiigwaas Press, along with her sister Louise Erdrich and poet James Cihlar, Heid continues to publish Ojibwe language books in an effort to assist in indigenous language revitalization work.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read Harder 2023 #11 a cookbook cover to cover

Do you live in the Great Lakes region? read this. Are you interested in a locavore diet? read this. Do you enjoy Heid Erdrich's poetry and writing? read this. Do you just want to learn more about Indigenous foods? read this.

I'm going to start this with some honesty, I hate cooking. I just don't enjoy cooking. I will clean up after the cook any day of the week to avoid cooking. But... I love reading cookbooks. They always make me think I want to cook. This one went a step further, it made me want to forage for my ingredients. I already can't wait for spring and the ramps to sprout in my woods so I can try to pickle them or attending the Sugar Bush and score some Maple sugar. I'm looking forward to traveling with our environmental department to learn more about the wild rice harvest in the fall. I don't know if I'll actually do these things but this book made me think I will.

We all know that world cuisine would be very different if it wasn't for the indigenous foods of North and South America and if you don't know this, read this. I love how Heid combined family stories with recipes. Heid's family is Ojibwe from Minnesota (yes her sister is Louise Erdrich if you didn't know) The recipes are not all purist, she didn't shy away from including cousin ingredients from the south or acknowledging staples from government commodities that have become part of Indigenous recipes (fry bread anyone, yum) but she guides us through many ingredients from Manoomin (wild rice), sugar bush (maple sugar), corn, wild greens and more. She includes resources for purchasing these items from Indigenous suppliers online, mostly in Minnesota and the Dakotas and talks about preservation work that has been and continues to go on.

Maybe I'll put in a manoomin order and get cooking...

[Lady · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far this cookbook is great! I haven't officially read through every recipe but I figured I'd mark it 'read' anyways because it might take some time to fully work my way through (and I might not feel like I've ever "read" all of it until I cook most of the recipes). I appreciate the "community cookbook" style another reader mentioned. It means most of the recipes are very doable, not overly complicated, and the notes add a homey touch. I've already learned more about manoomin than I ever knew before and have cooked one delicious dish.
Purchased it at Birchbark Books, I highly recommend stopping there if you ever pass through Minneapolis!

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book about the foods that were native to the midwest and which Native American people enjoyed prior to European influence.

I found that I liked the stories and history much better than I liked the recipes, which felt a bit like a community cookbook. Most of the recipes came either from the author herself or he friends and family members. Though there was a focus on indigenous foods, many included ingredients or cooking styles with European influence.

[Dray · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent entry into indigenous foods and a clear voice for what indigenous cultures have to offer the larger culture. The section on native rice was much appreciated as well as the noting of sources for ingredients. I also enjoyed the many voices that were shared in the cookbook from native chefs and food experts. Recommended. Encore!

[Brianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been enjoying this cookbook very much. I like that along with great recipes, there is history and information about the native peoples of upper midwest.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating stories about indigenous foodways with recipes that not only inform but are still followed today, as demonstrated by the photos of recent gatherings featuring people and food.

[Elizabeth Judd Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indigenous food recipes and history from the Upper Midwest. I’m excited to try these!

[Danielle Mccoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needs more pictures.

[Layfad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this book. Wonderfully written. Indigenous food written by indigenous people.

[Valerie K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Borrowed this from the library and loved some of the recipes so much I had to purchase a copy for me.

[A.]

Interesting theme, though the execution didn't totally do it for me

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cookbook as literature and recipes as fine art. It is easy to tell that the author is a poet!

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this cookbook, since it is more than just recipes. Lots of interesting stories about the history of the foods, issues surrounding them, and then some fun recipes using them. Even though I am not Native American, I enjoy harvesting and cooking real wild rice, chokecherries, Juneberries, etc. I made the pumpkin bangs (fry bread; I had never heard the term bangs in reference to food)) and it was so good! There are more recipes, especially the wild rice ones, that I am anxious to try.

[W.L. Bolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cookbook is something special. It is full of resources, advice, history, and personal stories. There are even listings of some shops in the MidWest where you can buy supplies at the end of each chapter. Some of the recipes I've tried didn't turn out as expected because of cooking times not quite working out, but this is a great pick if you're a foodie, if you live in the MidWest and have access to the foods featured in the book, or if you are interested in indigenous American culture.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating history. Scanned through pretty quickly to get the lay of the land....enjoying going back and looking more thoroughly. There is so much history and interesting information in this book.
Just reading for the narrative contained therein is so fascinating and educational. Love this!
Eventually, I'll try some recipes.