The Art of American Indian Cooking

Despite American Indians having been in this land for centuries before the European immigration and consequential culinary influences, today people are generally unfamiliar with true American Indian food.  For one thing, it ranges the gamut, as tribes from different areas of the continent had different wildlife to work with -  you wouldn't find Navajo fry bread among the Mohicans of the Hudson River; they developed separate cultures and also disparate cooking styles.  Post-melting pot it's difficult to find truly authentic American Indian food, but it provides insight into the generations of the past.

The cookbook The Art of American Indian Cooking by Yeffe Kimball, an Oklahoma Osage (my people), supplies recipes from all over the country, divided by region.  The sections - Gardeners and Gatherers of the Southwest, Fisherman of the Pacific Northwest, Wandering Hunters of the Plains, Planters of the South, and Woodsmen of the East - share (literally) a taste of traditional American Indian life.  I've tried numerous recipes from the cookbook, from Zuni green chili stew to slow-baked vegetables, and found them all to be wonderfully flavorful.  There's so much more to American Indian cooking than corn on the cob and pumpkin pie.  Don't get me started on my feelings about Thanksgiving ... Whether red snapper and crabs from the South or simple stewed tomatoes from the East, the variety of recipes are full of unexpected surprises.

Of course there are issues finding some of the ingredients the recipes call for - as buffalo meat isn't easy to come by around here, I substitute beef, for example.  I've found that lean ground beef works fine for the venison-stuffed bell peppers recipe, and I add extra spice to season the meat and some chipotle seasoning to add a smoky flavor that the venison would provide; after baking the dish for an hour and a half, the pepper softens and releases its sweetness, which makes for a dramatic contrast with the spicy meat.  So good.

Photo: lunch at the cafe of the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., which has different menus for each of the tribal regions.  Soft squash and beans from the Southwest, and sweet potatoes with a hint of marjoram - hands down some of the best food you'll find in the city, let alone at a museum.  5 stars.