Speakers: Dr. Lois Ellen Frank and Walter Whitewater | Air Date: December 21, 2019 | Run Time: 39mins | The Native Seed Pod: Season 2
Food Is Medicine: Native Health and Cultural Foodscapes - Part 1
Walter and Lois, 2016
On a winter morning in Reno, Nevada, on the homelands of the Washoe nation, host Melissa Nelson has a conversation with Native chefs and health educators Dr. Lois Ellen Frank and Walter Whitewater. They all converged in this area for a “Food Sovereignty and Native Peoples Health” event at the University of Nevada, Reno, hosted by Dr. Deb Harry (Pyramid Lake Paiute), professor of Gender, Race, and Identity.
For this first episode of season two, the Native Seed Pod dives into the topic of ‘Food is Medicine,’ learning from Lois and Walter about Native cuisine, healing through food, and the intercultural unity that can emerge through shared food traditions, or what they call “cultural foodscapes.”
Dr. Lois Ellen Frank
ABOUT LOIS
Lois Ellen Frank, Ph.D. (Kiowa) is a Santa Fe, New Mexico based Native American Chef, a Native foods historian, culinary anthropologist, educator, James Beard Award-winning cookbook author, photographer and organic gardener. She is the chef/owner of Red Mesa Cuisine, LLC a Native American catering company specializing in using Ancestral Native American ingredients all with a modern twist. Dr. Frank has spent over 25 years documenting and working with the foods and lifeways of Native Americans in the Southwest and other regions throughout the Americas. This lengthy immersion in Native American communities culminated in her book, Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations, featuring traditional and contemporary recipes, which won her the James Beard Award in the Americana category. She is also a Culinary Ambassador Diplomat with the U.S. State Department and Office of Cultural Affairs, where, with Chef Walter Whitewater (Diné), she has traveled to Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and Russia, to teach about the history of Native American foodways. She also teaches locally at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Walter Whitewater
ABOUT WALTER
Walter Whitewater (Diné/Navajo) began cooking professionally in 1992 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a chef at Red Mesa Cuisine, LLC a Native American Catering company, specializing in Native American Cuisine using ancestral foods with a modern twist. Chef Whitewater has appeared on numerous food TV Network cooking shows featuring foods of the Southwest. Chef Whitewater worked on the James Beard Award winning cookbook, Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations with Chef Lois Ellen Frank. He has traveled with Chef Frank, as part of the U.S. State Department and Consulate General’s Culinary Diplomacy Program to Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and Russia, where the two chefs promoted indigenous foods of the Americas through the culinary arts. Chef Whitewater was the first Native American chef to cook at the James Beard House in New York City. He won the James Lewis Award in 2008 from BCA Global for his work as a Native chef. He is very active on using Ancestral Native American foods for health and wellness in Native American communities.
Additional Resources
Featured video on Native American Cuisine from a series entitled “In Real Life” by AJ+
Native American Health Resources from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
Books by Lois Ellen Frank on Amazon
CREDITS
Host/Writer/Director: Melissa K. Nelson
Producer: Sara Moncada
Co-Producer/Photographer: Mateo Hinojosa
Audio Editor/Engineer: Colin Farish
Production Assistant: Teo Montoya
Additional photography: Lottie Hedley
SONGS (in order of appearance):
Cedar flute John-Carlos Perea
Final song Walter Whitewater