The Foods of Turtle Island & Rabbit Soup
“through these foods, we tell the story of who we are, where we came from, and where
we can go from here” p. 15.
I know it has been a while since I last posted. We moved into a house! And thus started all the renovations. But I am so excited to post again! This time, however, I am doing more of a book review for a book I have been eagerly awaiting the release of. Yesterday, I finally got a copy of Turtle Island by the chef and author Sean Sherman (you may know him by the handle “The Sioux Chef”)
Rabbit Soup with Corn Dumplings
We made Rabbit Soup with Corn Dumplings (recipe, p. 63) from the Great Plains chapter since we live in Colorado, and it seemed the most approachable for sourcing local ingredients. A quick note for anyone who feels intimidated: many ingredients in the book aren’t common grocery-store items or easily foraged every season, such as rabbit, balsam fir bark, dandelion, sage leaves, bison, milkweed, and more. For me, that’s part of the beauty. Sherman shows us how to use local, often overlooked foods that aren’t typically “centered” in our everyday experience. This isn’t happenstance; it’s tied to the history of settler colonialism that sought to erase Native foodways. By focusing on native ingredients that are part of the land, he is actively decolonizing foodways. So be open and creative!
Book Review
This book takes on a herculean task of reviewing and decolonizing (ie, to challenge and remove colonial ways of thinking that still shape society) foods, traditions, and histories of North America, while also presenting an array of recipes developed by Sherman that showcase the abundant, rich, and flavorful foodways of these places. From the ice and tundra lands of the far north, all the way to Mesoamerica, Sherman covers an amazing breadth of places and foods. In each section, Sherman weaves together personal stories, native worldviews, the histories of land use and the traditional occupants, the effects of conquest and settler colonialism on foodways, and lessons we all might learn, all while presenting a cohesive look at the different foodways of many diverse and yet interconnected groups. What easily could have felt like a cursory glance, Sherman has created a book that has real depth and heart in every chapter.
Through this book, Sherman joins others in documenting how settler colonialism and American practice, such as land removal, resource restriction, cultural disruption, and colonization, have erased and obscured Indigenous foods and foodways, resulting in profound harm not only to the health of Native peoples (see Native Foods: Agriculture, Indigeneity, and Settler Colonialism in American History by M.D. Wise; Indigenous Foodways among Native Americans by C.G. Hill; and Decolonizing Diet: Healing by Reclaiming Traditional Indigenous Foodways by Monica Bodirsky and Jon Johnson, to name just a few) but also to their culture. Much like the idea put forth in Wisdom Sits in Places, the seminal work by Keith Basso, which posits that place is an inherently culturally constructed, named locale that carries histories, stories, social meanings, and moral lessons, Sherman brings attention to how many of these practices sought to intentionally separate “the food from the Indian” (à la Richard Henry Pratt’s “Kill the Indian, save the man”) as a means of cultural assimilation, destruction, and control. To recognize and bring to the forefront the lesson that each dish is encoded with meaning, from the name, methods of gathering and processing, cooking techniques, histories of use, and the oral traditions that accompany it, is an integral part of decolonizing food and foodways.
By the end, the reader is left to ponder a central theme: that remembrance (the ways individuals and communities actively recall, represent, and reproduce the past in order to make meaning in the present) and preservation go hand in hand with change. In this sense, this book is fundamentally not a book solely about preserving what was lost; it is a book focused on exploring how groups have continued to maintain connections to historic food systems while also forging new paths and adapting to shifting socio-cultural, political, economic, and, yes, physical landscapes in the process. It is in this narrative arc that Sherman truly showcases Indigenous adaptability, resilience, and creativity in the face of systemic oppression. And, perhaps most importantly, Sherman draws the reader a map illustrating how food and foodways, as a key part of Indigenous identities, can be framed as a critical path toward food sovereignty.
food sovereignty is “the right of people to define their own food systems,
to have access to healthy and culturally appropriate foods, and to control the methods
of food production and distribution” (p.15)
Through the sharing of these stories, histories, and recipes, Sherman illustrates how the revitalization of food knowledge, cultural identity, and community can help us all take steps toward “healing, connection, and understanding” (p. 15). It is in this framing that the reader then becomes part of the story, as we are encouraged to engage in thoughtful, sustainable practices such as local sourcing, using available foods, following seasonality, and perhaps most importantly, reminding us to look beyond the page to the histories hidden within, as we nourish ourselves.
I guess that is a long way of saying I loved it.
Looking for a holiday gift? I encourage everyone to get a copy!
https://www.amazon.com/Turtle-Island-Story-Americas-People/dp/1554519438
Want to read more like it? Here are some of my favorites.
Under the theme of Indigenous land use
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants — Robin Wall Kimmerer
As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock — Dina Gilio-Whitaker
By native authors that I have read (and loved) recently.
The Only Good Indians — Stephen Graham Jones
Wandering Stars — Tommy Orange
There There — Tommy Orange
The Removed — Brandon Hobson
Did you try out a recipe from Turtle Island? Leave a comment and let me know how it went!
And, as always, don’t forget to like and subscribe!
