American Indian Cooking

Recipes from the Southwest

by Carolyn Niethammer

“A comprehensive survey of basic desert foods and recipes, including pictures and descriptions of the various plants for the intrepid food-gatherer.”—Kirkus.

“At least once in our life, we should experience the joy of a meal that we ourselves have gathered and prepared from native plants. Carolyn Niethammer coaxes us to walk with her through the deserts, marshes, and mesas of Arizona and New Mexico to collect, clean, dry, and partake of the bountiful harvest of our great Southwest.”—The American West.

This handy cookbook is an enjoyable and informative guide to the rich culinary traditions of the American Indians of the Southwest. Featured are 150 authentic fruit, grain, and vegetable recipes—foods that have been prepared by generations of Apaches, Zunis, Navajos, Havasupais, Yavapais, Pimas, and Pueblos. These tasty, unique dishes include mesquite pudding, Navajo blue bread, hominy, cherry corn bread, and yucca hash.

American Indian Cooking also boasts wonderfully detailed illustrations of dozens of edible wild plants and essential information on their history, use, and importance. Many of these plants can be obtained by mail; a list of mail-order sources in the back of the book allows everyone to sample and savor these distinctive, natural recipes.

Carolyn Niethammer is the author of Daughters of the Earth: The Lives and Legends of American Indian Women.

221 pp ~ illustrated — ©1999