The Best Indigenous Cookbooks to Celebrate Native Ingredients

With so many different Native communities spread out across North America, and with such long and beautiful culinary histories between them, it would make sense that “indigenous food” could mean different things to different people. With regard to cookbooks, there’s a staggering amount of opportunity to explore and study all the foodways and historic traditions of this part of the world. And when it comes to the food, naturally, each book has its own unique angle. In any case, what many indigenous cookbooks share is an approach to food that honors healthful, delicious produce and ingredients found locally and cooked using simple (and, in some cases, ancient) techniques that are accessible, seasonally thoughtful, and an essential part of North America’s history. 

In this year’s impressive Southwestern cookbook Seed to Plate, Soil to Sky, Lois Ellen Frank takes readers on a gripping quest back through history to before 1492, when Native peoples were the first in the world to cultivate and cook with produce like squash, corn, beans, vanilla, and cacao, which, of course, eventually reached other countries and became canonical in global cuisine. Chef Sean Sherman—aka The Sioux Chef—extolled upon his own version of indigenous cuisine in his award-winning 2017 cookbook, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen. “[The indigenous diet is] hyperlocal, ultraseasonal, uber-healthy: no processed foods, no sugar, no wheat (or gluten), no dairy, no high-cholesterol animal products,” he writes. “It’s naturally low glycemic, high protein, low salt, plant based with lots of grains, seeds, and nuts. Most of all, it’s utterly delicious. It’s what so many diets strive to be but fall short for lack of context. This is a diet that connects us all to nature and to each other in the most direct and profound ways.” 

Between his cookbook, his Sioux Chef project, and his James Beard-winning Minneapolis restaurant Owamni—which is truly life-changing, if you haven’t been—Sherman wants to “decolonize” food, or to offer “a different story of American cooking than the Eurocentric one that is traditionally touted.” 

By delving into some of the best indigenous cookbooks—and there are many, so we’ve limited it to four great volumes to begin with—home cooks of all types can find ways to circumnavigate the Standard American Diet (often abbreviated as “SAD,” lol), which is distinguished by its high-calorie and low-nutrient processed and refined foods (for my non-scientists, this means stuff like Froot Loops, Diet Coke, and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos). Whether you live in downtown Manhattan or in rural Missouri, you can use these cookbooks to get back in touch with nature, and to enjoy the foods that have always been part of the fabric of this country’s culinary foundations. In fact, some might call indigenous food the true American cuisine. Here are some good places to start.

This newer (it came out in August), Southwest-focusing cookbook revolves around, as author Lois Ellen Frank puts it, “the story of eight plants that Native peoples gave to the world: corn, beans, squash, chiles, tomatoes, potatoes, vanilla, and cacao.” Frank offers a fascinating discussion of the history of Native American cuisine (this book is worth it for the introduction alone, TBH), and continues with an array of delicious recipes you’ll want to cook immediately, like green chile enchilada lasagna, red chile potato stew, pumpkin corn soup with ginger lime cream, and mole enchiladas with mushrooms and potatoes. Seed to Plate, Soil to Sky is fully plant-based, making it easily one of the most interesting vegan cookbooks of the year.

Sherman’s 2017 book—written with celebrated cookbook author Beth Dooley—won a James Beard Award and has been a beloved volume since it came out. In it, Sherman gives a compelling argument about how we can return to a simpler and more healthful way of eating by focusing on indigenous ingredients and ways of cooking. First, you’ll want to amp up your pantry with staples like maple sugar, maple vinegar, smoked salt, cedar, sumac, and sunflower oil (aka a bunch of insanely delicious ingredients you might not already have, but that will both simplify your cooking and make everything way tastier). Then, dive in to dishes like roasted corn with wild greens pesto (which you’ll just want to eat with a spoon), maple sage roasted vegetables, Missouri River pozole, and cider-braised turkey thighs. Honestly, this book will change the way you think about and cook food—it’s an essential read for anybody wanting to form a closer relationship with the original American food (no disrespect—OK, maybe a bit—to fried Oreos, Trash Can Nachos, and deep dish pizza).

Freddie Bitsoie was the lauded executive chef at Mitsitam Native Foods Café in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, which is, simply put, a legendary restaurant. His vibrant cookbook, New Native Kitchen, takes an elevated-rustic approach to everything from fiddleheads and cactus to bison, squash, and trout. This one has absolutely stunning photography, to be prepared to take your time with it.

Author Heid E. Erdrich had to leave the Midwest in order to fully appreciate the foods she grew up with. “Ironically, it was in France that I became distinctly aware of indigenous foods of the Americas, mostly because I missed them so much,” she writes. “I missed peanuts and peanut butter. I missed seeing pumpkins in the autumn—I missed pie. Chilies were hard to come by. And I had a hankering for maple the entire time. Most of all, I yearned for corn in any form: at the time, very little corn was available to cook with in Europe. A world without tortillas and tortilla chips was unimaginable to me, an ardent maker of salsa and enchiladas.” From hand-harvested Manoomin (wild rice) and corn muffins to Great Northern vegetarian cassoulet and duck egg meatloaf, Original Local is a celebration of all bites Midwestern. 

Oh, and if these cookbooks aren’t enough for ya, here’s a recipe for Sherman’s absolutely incredible “Owamni sweet potatoes with maple-chile crisp.”

The Rec Room staff independently selected all of the stuff featured in this story. Want more reviews, recommendations, and red-hot deals? Sign up for our newsletter.