The CulinaryWoman Newsletter, 10/1/23

A chat with the author of an intriguing indigenous cookbook

Welcome, October! Welcome to the CulinaryWoman Newsletter. A special greeting to our new subscribers, I’m so happy to have you join us. Free subscribers receive this weekly newsletter and previews of some other posts. To receive a full week of posts, and to be eligible for our giveaways, consider becoming a paid subscriber. We don’t have ads or sponsors, so you keep our journalism going.

Just click here to upgrade, and thank you so much.

An Intriguing Cookbook About Indigenous Foodways

Of all the cookbooks I’ve read recently, I kept thinking about Chimi Nu’am: Native California Foodways for the Contemporary Kitchen. Written by Sara Calvosa Olson, it is a close look at food traditions from California’s vast and yet unexplored indigenous communities. The title translates as “let’s eat” in the Karuk tribal language (Sara is of Karuk and Italian descent).

As I explained in the CulinaryWoman Reading Room recently, Sara’s recipes are challenging — you can’t simply go out and buy some of her ingredients — but they are also a tutorial on how the tribes there cook for their communities and how we can emulate them.

“I’m so relieved that everyone back home has been really supportive and excited about it,” Sara told me last week. “That’s what really matters.”

A change of plans

This was not the cookbook she originally set out to write. Sara, a columnist whose work focused on indigenous foodways, planned to pull together contributions from different communities, in more of an almanac style. “Then the pandemic happened, and I had to pivot. We couldn’t work together in a personal way,” she says.

Although people outside California often think of the state as divided between north and south, Sara says native foodways actually run throughout the state. Due to its long coast and mountainous areas, the tribes share ingredients like salmon, nuts, berries and trees.

Trees, you may ask? Yes, indeed. Her cookbook includes multiple recipes that use acorn flour, and others that rely on fir needles and pine cones.

“Every tribe had their way of preparing those foods,” Sara says. “We were always trading back and forth with each other. In a way, I can see a lot of similarities, and I feel comfortable up and down the state.”

She says she thinks of California like a clock: “A million little pieces that all fit together.”

In promotional material for the book, it is described as “an inconvenient cookbook” in that you can’t simply go to the store and find everything for her recipes.

Some require specialty meats, such as bison, elk, venison and rabbit, which you may need to get from a chef or a hunting friend. Others might require bartering (she trades her homemade acorn flour with a neighbor for eggs) or home preparation.

“The point I want to make is that this is not an all at once journey,” she says. “You can’t de-colonize your way of eating right away - and being able to de-colonize is a privilege in itself. You’re developing your ecological knowledge.”

Divided by the seasons

Many of the fall pastry recipes use acorn flour as a base for a series of pastries. It is sometimes used as an ingredient in Asian recipes, but Sara says there is a difference: those rely on acorn starch, equivalent to corn starch.

‘You’ve pretty much got to make your own” and she provides instructions for how to mill it. If you do not have an oak tree in your neighborhood, you can buy acorns on Etsy - just make sure they are natural and not glazed for used as decorations.

In the winter section, there are recipes for deer stew with grits, coffee and juniper-brined venison, and acorn hand pies filled with miso smoked salmon chowder. Spring brings a recipe for tree tip syrup, made with spruce needles, instructions for prepping morel mushrooms, and wildflower spring rolls. There is also a recipe for vividly green pea pancakes.

Her summer section brings many salads, including one in which quail substitutes for chicken. There is a pine pollen Cacio e Pepe pasta, and freezer pops made with summer fruits and amaranth.

The spiritual connection

Sara says she is asking cooks to “step outside and notice things differently. You also begin to feel that guardian sense” about the land around you.

“Once you start accessing these rhythms, even a little bit into your diet, you’re going to do that more and more and rely less and less on going to the store every single day.”

Sara knows that readers, especially those in urban places, won’t be able to take a basket to the woods. But her book can alert them to different ways of using more familiar ingredients like blackberries or mushrooms.

“Even in these days when people aren’t all that interested in gathering, they will still be excited to try new flavors,” she says.

Sara says she hopes readers will also find the spiritual aspect in her book. “These are our original relatives, our original elders, who are out there nourishing us. The land remembers us and wants us to have a relationship with it,” she says.

“Once they have connected the food to the spirit, they will feel nourished on a lot of different levels — more nourished in everything. It makes life extra delicious.”

Two Classic Places Are Gone

When I moved to Boston in 2016, I was delighted to find a little shop in Brookline called the New Paris Bakery. It was run by a charming Greek-American proprietor, Roula Kappas, who bought it with her late husband, Constantin, in 1988.

Paris Bakery dated back to 1919, and was known throughout the area for its delicious eclairs and Constantin’s house made chocolates. Roula welcomed everyone who visited the shop and on my first visit, threw in an extra eclair.

Now, Roula is moving back to Greece, and her shop has closed. Efforts to sell it were unsuccessful when potential buyers found out how much investment a complete update of the vintage property would require.

But Roula told WBUR’s Sharon Brody that she saw a silver lining. Her recipes might have been discarded in any transition. Besides, she said “One hundred and four years of New Paris Bakery, I think, is more than enough. And it gives me some happiness to know that it left as New Paris Bakery.”

Meanwhile, a glamorous place abruptly closed its doors in Chicago. The Signature Room, which sat atop the John Hancock Building, unexpectedly shut down last week. In a memo, its management blamed the restaurant’s inability to re-negotiate lease terms.

“This an extremely difficult situation for us all, and we all share in the shock of this overwhelming news,” the memo to employees read.

I don’t really like restaurants on top of places; they always seem touristy and the quality of the food never measures up to more-conventional restaurants. But during a girls’ trip to Chicago after college, a group of us went to the Signature Room’s lounge, called The 95th, for cocktails before dinner.

The entire city of Chicago laid out before us, gleaming the twilight and glowing as the sun went down. It was a special rush to see one of my favorite cities from high up.

As it turned out, I later ended up living two blocks away, where I could see the Hancock Building from my 24th floor apartment, and enjoy watching the lights in the Windy City come on. I hope something special will replace the Signature Room. Romance is scarce these days.

Jose Andres Takes His Family To Spain

We know Jose Andres as a restaurant owner and the humanitarian founder of World Central Kitchen. But he is also a husband and a father, and you see his personal side on display in a new television series.

Jose Andres And Family In Spain just started airing on CNN. He is visiting Barcelona, Madrid, Andalucía, Lanzarote, and his birthplace of Asturias, meeting up with chefs and friends, and of course eating.

This is a wonderful month for food television. The Great British Bake Off began its new season last week, and the Great Canadian Baking Show launches tonight.

I’m offering my thoughts on those shows in Red Beans & Advice on Mondays, and I may throw in some impressions of Jose’s new program, too. Be sure to upgrade so that you can read them and join the conversation about all these programs.

A New Giveaway — And The Winner Of The Chocolate Chip Cookie Book

Delysia Chocolatier is an award-winning artisan chocolate company based in Austin, Texas. It is owned by chef and chocolatier Nicole Patel, who was named a 2023 Best Chocolatier in the Americas. Delysia Chocolatier specialized in quality chocolate from sustainable sources and fresh ingredients.

Our new giveaway for paid subscribers is a box of nine Halloween truffles in caramel, candy corn and peanut butter flavors.

To enter, reply to this email by Friday, October 6. The truffles will come from Delysia in time for you to enjoy with your favorite goblins.

Meanwhile, Margaret Petersen is the winner of the Chocolate Chip Cookie Book by Katie Jacobs. Margaret is an attorney and food lover here in Ann Arbor who often joins me on dining excursions.

That is Margaret with chef Rick Bayless back in 2018 at Zingerman’s Roadhouse. Congratulations, Margaret!

Keeping Up With CulinaryWoman

Today, I’m taking part in the inaugural Books & Brews festival at River’s Edge Brewery in Milford, Mich. Come have some craft beer, meet authors and hear our panel discussion at 3:30 pm. Many of us are Michigan Notable Authors and we look forward to seeing you.

This week, I wrote about mochi doughnuts for The Takeout.

I also appeared on All Things Considered on NPR talking about the numbers involved in the United Auto Workers’ strike against the Detroit carmakers. I hope you’re subscribed to my other Subtack, Intersection: Everything That Moves. It’s my digital sequel to my 2003 book, The End of Detroit, which celebrates its 20th anniversary later this month.

On Friday, I got my Covid booster shot. They are so much in demand in Ann Arbor that CVS had to limit the number of local pharmacies that carry them. Be sure to make an appointment if you decide to get one.

I had the usual sore arm and felt a little bit tired, but no more than any of my other Covid shots. I keep hearing about people testing positive (I took a test last week that was negative) so I hope you will stay healthy.

I’ll see our paid subscribers tomorrow in Red Beans & Advice, and everyone else next week.

Satisfaction Guaranteed: How Zingerman's Built a Corner Deli into a Global Food Community https://a.co/d/2ZbbgAo