Latest / Cookbook Love Podcast / Episode 385: Being a Cookbook Writer: Uplifting Indigenous Culture & Traditions with Pyet DeSpain

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Episode 385: Being a Cookbook Writer: Uplifting Indigenous Culture & Traditions with Pyet DeSpain · Cookbook Love Podcast

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You are listening to the Cookbook Love podcast with Maggie
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Green, episode number 3 85.
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Welcome to the Cookbook Love podcast, a podcast that celebrates cookbook readers,
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buyers, collectors, writers and clubs.
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And now your host cookbook author, culinary dietician, and cookbook
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writing coach, Maggie Green.
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Hi everybody.
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Welcome back to another episode of the Cookbook Love podcast.
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How is everybody doing today?
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Having a quiet wink here in my cookbook Bunker, enjoying, the sunny, cold
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weather, occasional dustings of snow, spending some time going for walks.
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I'm doing some quiet work here, talking to cookbook authors, teaching
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my students, and as many of you know, I'm starting to gather the.
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Paperwork I need to take to my accountant for my year end, business tax return.
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So that's always a very annual thing to do.
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I like to try to get it done this month, get that out of the way.
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So I'm gonna take a little break from that to, introduce our lovely
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interview today with Pyet DeSpain.
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Pyet is a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Tribe.
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She's an award-winning and global private chef.
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And the first winner of Gordon Ramsey's groundbreaking cooking competition series.
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Next level, chef Pyet's Life Work is dedicated to indigenous
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fusion cuisine where she combines the food of her heritage, both
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Native American and Mexican.
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Her passion is to uplift indigenous culture and traditions via
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storytelling, traveling and cooking.
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Originally from the Osage Indian Reservation in Kansas City, Kansas, Pyet
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now resides in Los Angeles, California.
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Today on the show we talk all about her beautiful new book Rooted in Fire.
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Pyet tells us more about the book, who it's for, her journey from idea
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to book, and then we walk through the book looking at its concept, the
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message she has for cooks and bakers, uh, the table of contents and deep
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dive into the chapters of the book, as well as some recipes in the book that
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we can all try at home to experience the food, her indigenous people.
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So without further delay, let's dive into this interview with Pyet DeSpain.
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Hi Pyet.
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Welcome to the Cookbook Love podcast.
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Hi.
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Thanks for having me.
2:45
Yeah, so excited that you're here.
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I've always loved kicking off the new year with, fresh faces, new people to
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talk to, all about brand new cookbooks.
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But before we dive into talking about your book, why don't you tell us a little
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bit about who you are and what you do?
3:01
Yeah, definitely Bojo.
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My name is Pyet, short for pie.
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I am a chef, obviously a private chef, but also now an author.
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I'm originally from Kansas, Kansas City, between Kansas City and Oklahoma.
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But now I reside in Los Angeles.
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And, yeah, I really love to dive into Native American Indigenous, um,
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and food sovereignty, food ways, and really uplift my community in that way.
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And of course, me being both Mexican and native, I like to bring all that in
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together and, and represent that through the food and the, the work that I do.
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Great.
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So how long have you been in California?
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I've been in California now for nine years.
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Wow.
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So yeah, you're going on a, that's almost like, I mean, that's a pretty long time.
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I mean, to be there and to be entrenched in what you do.
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So I understand you're also a private chef.
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Yes.
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Yes.
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And you cook privately then for people in their homes?
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Absolutely.
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I first started my business Pyet's Plate as a meal prep service and
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a wellness and coaching service.
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And then I veered into just doing private chefing so I can really,
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just do what I wanna be creative.
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Yeah.
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Not be.
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Restricted by any trending diets.
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And so I really dove into, the private chef world.
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So now I do private events and private dinners.
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I don't work with private, I don't have private clients.
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Yes.
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And I'm like working with regularly anymore.
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But, um, if an opportunity came, of course I would take it.
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But yeah, I love, I just love, creating just like special
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moments for people really.
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That's wonderful.
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Yeah.
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And do you get to use some of your, the indigenous foods and the things
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that you are talking about in your book when you do your private chef work?
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Oh, absolutely.
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A lot of these recipes were some of those starting points that I was
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utilizing, as an entryway for some of my clients, just to get them interested
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in that type of food because it's, it's very new to a lot of people.
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And at the time when I was, a private chef, I was trying to figure out ways to
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kind of slip some ingredients and, and, just mix it up a little bit for them.
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And so some of these recipes were, those were those recipes that I created
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for specifically for that reason.
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That's wonderful.
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So tell us a little bit about, your journey then from, you know,
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doing your cooking, being a private chef, to the book and, how this
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whole idea for the book unfolded.
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And then, um, we can talk a little bit more specifically about the
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book and what's in it, but everybody always loves to hear the journey.
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Definitely, well, the book came right after winning
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season one of Next Level Chef.
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I had a friend that was really, advising me to strike while the iron is hot, and
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they were like, you have an interesting story and you should write a cookbook.
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And the original idea was to write a children's cookbook because I'm very
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passionate about educating our youth.
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I spend a lot of my, my time now and my career spending time with the youth,
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educating them on our indigenous food waste so that way they can, just be
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knowledgeable about what they can be eating other than McDonald's and
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like just feeling rooted in that.
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And so it was, the idea initially was for a children's cookbook and then I,
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uh, kind of veered into just, let's just write a cookbook for adults first so
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people can just get to know who I am, um, as a chef outside of what they've seen
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on Next Level Chef, I can really begin.
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Explaining who I am and where all that passion that they saw on the TV screen.
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You know where that comes from.
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So that was the, the basis for this book Rooted in Fire.
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The name of it, initially it was supposed to be Pyet's plate, but it kind of
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started taking on a life of its own.
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As authors know, you start with this idea and then it kind of, it, goes into these
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other different pathways and journeys and they, it creates a life of its own.
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And so, rooted in Fire was really, a name that came from the many twists and turns
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that happened as I was, writing the book.
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So it, the, the cookbook is obviously filled with lots of beautiful, um,
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pictures of, of food and also recipes, but it's a lot of storytelling.
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It's reads like a memoir.
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And that was something that I initially was not what I intended, but with
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some advice from my publishing team and the editors that I was working
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with, they were like, you know, Pyet, we need to to know more about you
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because you have this like very unique.
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Story and let's, let's amplify that.
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And so it became more like a memoir.
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Yeah.
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And that makes a book like this more than just a set of recipes.
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It really becomes a very personal book, I'm sure, for you to, create
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these stories and to write about them.
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Absolutely.
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Yeah, there's a lot of story in here, A lot of, obviously personal
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stories, but also just some guidelines for those that wanna learn more
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about indigenous food waste because this is a topic and, and a type of
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food that is very new to the public within the last like couple of years.
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You have people like Sean Sherman and Crystal Wapa Pit and myself that
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are like the faces of indigenous food and indigenous food waste.
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But there are so many other chefs and, and people that are in our communities
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doing this amazing work that are really amplifying, the teachings.
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And so this book is the book that I could have utilized at my starting
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point of diving into indigenous food ways and reconnecting through the food.
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And so it is, it is just a lot of, there's a lot of layers there.
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Yeah.
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And I think it's interesting when you become an author and you're
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writing about it, you're right.
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There's often so many people that were standing on the
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shoulders of, right, where.
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Authors of a book, our faces out there connected to this topic.
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But I think that, we always have to look around and look behind
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us and look who has led the way.
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So I would love it if you give us a, a little bit of a primer about
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indigenous food ways, what this means, what it means to you, what you
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would love for our audience to know.
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Absolutely.
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So the, the bare bone basic kind of definition of what indigenous
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foods are, because that's kind of where we have to start, is the
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foods that we're eating before.
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Any type of, influence from the settler countries that came into the Americas.
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And so this is before, you know, beef and chicken and all the
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proteins that we know and eat today.
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We really wanna focus on what was here before then.
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What were these people and from different regions eating?
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And me specifically in my tribe originated from the Great Lakes area,
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from that little lower peninsula area of the Great Lakes from
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Chicago all the way through Indiana.
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And we migrated during the Indian Removal Act, on the Trail of death.
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And we wound up in Kansas.
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And so when I think about reconnecting to indigenous food ways in that way,
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I think about, well, what were my ancestors eating before they migrated?
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And what are they eating now that they have migrated?
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But it's really about honoring the food systems that were here prior.
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And, we weren't just hunters and, and forger, they were
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very, very educated farmers.
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And so it's really honoring that knowledge, those teachings, the connection
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to the land that reciprocated respect for not just the land, but also the animals
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and everything that is, you know, in place to make our ecosystem survive and live.
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It's just that, that connection of it, and even down to how many seeds
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you're planting in your garden, the, the number three is very sacred.
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So you're planting not just for yourself to be able to harvest
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later, but also for mother earth.
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And then the third seed is for our, our, our four-legged kin.
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You know, the animals that wanna come by and nibble on that harvest as well.
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So you're keeping that in mind and that, that one example really symbolizes just
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that reciprocation of energy and love and respect that we all should really
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be thinking about when we think about the food systems that we're a part of.
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So when I think about indigenous food ways, explaining that to
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someone for the first time, that's really what I lead with.
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Yeah, I think it's interesting and I think that that probably is a misnomer
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that people think it was hunt all hunting and gathering, but that's not true.
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There was, organized, farming and, growing of their own crops and things
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going on, and it's very important to be able to remember that.
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Um.
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You know, how knowledgeable, educated, and well-rounded they were in terms
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of the types of foods that were grown.
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So I do think it's wonderful that the books now can present this
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information to a larger group of people.
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Um, my first exposure to it was actually through the Smithsonian
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Museum in Washington DC that opened for, was it native?
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Is it the Native American museum?
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And the cafeteria has all the different, regions of, and different
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types of foods that you can eat.
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And I think it's, I don't know, it was just, it was just the, I thought the best
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cafeteria and of all of the museums that were there, loved being, seeing the way
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that even regional cuisine was present in.
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Those different areas depending on if they were near the Great Lakes
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or near an ocean or more inland.
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And, I'd love if you would talk a little bit about how this influenced
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what's in your book and the table of contents for your book and the journey
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that your book, took as it unfolded in terms of the recipe content.
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Definitely when I approached the books, like the, the way that the chapters
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would lay out within indigenous foods or Native American dishes and
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things that I grew up eating, there really wasn't, if you think about it,
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like a breakfast, lunch or a dinner.
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It was just kind of, based on what was available and what they could harvest
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and what was in season during that time.
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Um, so that's the way that I really wanted the book to flow.
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And so I was keeping all of my proteins together, all of my, so
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we have the way of the hunter.
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We also have the way of, or not the way, but the, forage from the fields.
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or gather from the fields or gather from the garden.
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Now I can't even remember what it harvest from the fields.
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Yeah, gather from the garden.
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Yeah.
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And then forage for your sweet tea too.
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Yes.
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Very good.
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Yeah.
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And then, so I really wanted to make sure I was keeping things that
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were kind of like paired, paired in that way, based off of ingredients.
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And I, that's really the way that the layout of the book, was set out.
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And then at the very end of the book, I have celebrating the seasons.
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So a lot of knowledge is in that last.
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That last chapter, which I honestly is my favorite chapter because
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I nerd out a lot on some of the little specifics and the details.
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But there's really some call to actions on how we navigate and move through seasons.
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Not just because of the holidays, but because it's, you know, it's colder
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outside or it's sunnier outside than, in the summer, than it is in the winter.
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And how we're really taking time to, reflect on like what's going on
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around us in this modern day world.
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I know people can't go out and hunt and gather and forge or even.
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Garden themselves because of lack of space and land.
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And just the landscapes of where we live have changed over time.
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But at least we can really honor those seasons by, you know, taking
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a walk and understanding like, oh, like during the, the springtime,
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this is what we're noticing.
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And the, the, the air has changed.
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The, the weather has changed.
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And really just taking inventory of all those things allow us as human
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beings to reconnect with, weather and, and place and, mother nature,
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not in all these different ways.
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And so I am very, so.
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Like a spiritual person.
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And that for me is my, my grounding is just getting out in nature or
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even spending time with friends and having meaningful conversations.
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So that last chapter really is me navigating through that and
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sharing that with the readers.
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But when it comes to the recipes now, the, the recipes are something
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that, we, a collection of memories of my childhood and things that I grew
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up eating, but also things that I found along the way of my journey of
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reconnecting to my indigenous foods.
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And I live in a modern day and I didn't grow up eating indigenous foods every day.
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Of course, I had the, the regular American diet just as everyone else did.
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We were eating you.
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Corn dogs and hamburgers and McDonald's and KFC, on the weekends or pizza,
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like, we were eating those things too.
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But as I became an adult to, to have that question in the, or that conversation
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with myself or what are indigenous foods?
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What did my ancestors eat?
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When I started that reconnecting, that's when I was able to really plug
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in some of that knowledge into my kitchen and teach my, my own family
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about it and teach my mother about it.
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Who is my, my connection to my native side.
15:54
Yeah.
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And then also mixing that in with other things that I grew up eating from my
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dad's side of the family, which they, you know, if you read in the book, I
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talk about how they were restaurant owners and they're very passionate
16:04
about the foods that they were cooking.
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And there's very competitive in my, on my Mexican side of the family.
16:10
Whose tamales are better?
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Who has the best salsa?
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like we were always just listening.
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Like, I was always listening to my uncles and my dad like argue back and forth of
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like, this needs more salt, or you should have put a this in there and put that.
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So it was really fun to like incorporate all of that into these little memories
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in these, you know, subheadings to each of these recipes just to give
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the reader like that sense of like.
16:32
Feeling of home or there's a lot of little stories that maybe
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other people can relate to.
16:37
And then of course I talk about, all of that being said, I did have
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some identity issues growing up.
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Not really figuring, not figuring out where I fit in, but not
16:46
just really feeling like I fit in in one place or the other.
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And then that was one of my biggest insecurities, which now is my biggest
16:53
superpower as as a chef, but also just as a female in this culinary world.
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You have to really figure out like, what's gonna set me, apart from my,
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my competitors as a private chef in this big city of Los Angeles.
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And so little by little I start piecing together all of these pieces and that is
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what makes up rooted in Fire, the book.
17:14
So, um, you know, as I mentioned, there's lots of layers there, but it's just really
17:17
like honing in my, my adult a DD Yeah.
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Like, I wanna talk about this, I wanna talk about that.
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But doing it in a way that like flows and makes sense to, to everyone.
17:27
Yeah.
17:27
You know, the identity piece for every cookbook author is such a big
17:31
deal, in particular for first books.
17:35
Um, and yours had a couple of different layers to it.
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It wasn't only stepping into being a cookbook author, but also stepping in,
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like you said, into this combination of your Mexican ancestry and your
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indigenous ancestry and bringing those two things together to make yourself well.
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It's not to make your, it's to be really who you are.
17:56
Exactly.
17:56
And tell people about that evolution and how that has become your superpower
18:03
because it has, I think that that really is the secret to, um, presenting ourselves
18:10
online and to other people is really truly being willing to be who we are.
18:17
You know, when I decided.
18:19
To be on a national wide, like cooking competition, like on TV, and put myself
18:28
in front of the cameras in that way.
18:30
I had been doing some, a lot of like self work and self-reflection during
18:36
that time because in Los Angeles as a chef I was having a really
18:39
hard time just making ends meet.
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And so when I thought about my life in the, in terms of like my business TRA
18:47
trajectory, I had to figure out what was making me stand out from the risk
18:51
because I was trying to sell up a service.
18:54
But within that, I figured out, like I don't, I have to
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compare myself to anyone else.
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I can just be myself and do what makes me happy and follow that pursuit.
19:03
And I think that's when really things really started to change for me.
19:07
And having those questions as, as an, as an, an adult.
19:10
You know, I think around this age, I was maybe 27, 26 years old when I was like,
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oh, I think I finally know who I am.
19:18
And that takes some time as yeah, just a human, normal human being of
19:22
trying to figure out who you are.
19:23
And that was that really, you know, crucial pivotal time for me.
19:26
And it just happened to be really wrapped in my identity was wrapped into my career.
19:32
And so going on to next level chef and being able to
19:35
represent myself and feel so.
19:37
Confident in who I was and at that time and, and what I was
19:41
representing, which was my heritage.
19:43
And I just went in there and I cooked food that I knew that
19:46
I would cook for my family.
19:47
Yeah.
19:47
And I had to cook, like, if this is gonna be my last time to cook for Gordon
19:51
Ramsey, I wanted to feel like home, Yeah.
19:54
And that's just the way that I approached everything at that point.
19:57
So after winning Next Level Chef, I had to face the fact that I am now going to be.
20:02
On different podcasts, I'm going to be asked to be doing different
20:06
things here and there and like what do I wanna do with this opportunity?
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And that was when I really started to just like really, really lean into,
20:14
okay, like I went on national television and said that I wanted to represent
20:18
indigenous people in the food industry.
20:20
And I think that's it.
20:21
That's what I wanna do because that's what I feel most passionate about.
20:26
And it just aligns with everything else in my life.
20:29
And so leaning into that was the, the greatest thing I could have ever done.
20:34
But also because it feels and it is authentic, right?
20:37
It is just who I am.
20:38
I don't have to like.
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I put on a show or like feel like I'm putting on my best face for anybody.
20:44
I'm just being a real person with real conversations, with and, and
20:49
doing the real work in my community.
20:51
I spend a lot of time with our youth and, and just figuring out what we need
20:55
and, and not just we, because there are so many different communities, but each
20:59
community needs something different.
21:01
That's right.
21:01
And I've had the opportunity to go and speak to these people and now I decided,
21:05
you know, I think my platform and my brand and everything else has revolved
21:09
around just representation and being a light in the world in whatever way.
21:14
That means to me, Yeah.
21:16
And wouldn't it be amazing if we were able to affect the next generation of young
21:21
children so that they knew that the only, that the true home, and especially when
21:26
we're at that age, when we're leaving the home from where we were raised or born or
21:31
like you even leaving Kansas and going to California, I think it can be unmooring.
21:36
You do kind of feel untethered, but really true home is when we
21:39
come home to who we really are.
21:42
Absolutely.
21:43
You said it best.
21:44
And then if children know that and they can reflect that to other
21:49
people, um, it is just an amazing.
21:53
To be able to carry and for you to, um, show children the way with that and
22:00
represent, um, ancient cultures that have been in this continent for so long.
22:06
It's just an incredible thing and probably to me, when we stop and think about it, it
22:11
probably feels like a huge responsibility.
22:13
But I think that it's through food, it's so much more connected and easier
22:17
to do because it's almost like the food tells the story for us if we
22:22
just prepare it and talk about it.
22:24
A hundred percent.
22:25
And you with that connection, with the food and the knowledge
22:29
and the understanding, the food in itself gives you the knowledge
22:33
that you need to just spread.
22:37
And that's a really beautiful thing.
22:39
Yeah.
22:40
It's, it's amazing.
22:41
Food is one of the best ways in cooking to connect to, uh, cultural conversations.
22:47
I believe that wholeheartedly.
22:49
I think that's one of the things that Anthony Bourdain did the best, in
22:52
addition to his amazing writing skill and his way, he was present on camera.
22:57
You know, he used it to connect with people who were not like him,
23:02
but it's just this, it opens a door that, um, anybody can walk
23:06
through if they have an open mind.
23:08
It's, it's wonderful.
23:09
So tell us about the fire part of this title.
23:12
Um, originally you said it was, um, the title was changed, but Fire was
23:18
incorporated into the title, and I think there's an important reason for that.
23:21
So I'd love for you to talk about fire.
23:24
Absolutely.
23:26
In the book, within the first couple pages, um, I talk about being a member
23:31
of the Prairie Band, Potawatomi Nation.
23:33
We're known as the fire keepers.
23:35
And of course, like fire came up so many different times, not just in the physical
23:40
fire that I cook with, but the fire that I've had inside of me my whole life.
23:46
I talk about kind of being, you know, a little feisty, fiery adolescent
23:50
young girl that just didn't know where to put all of my energy.
23:55
And when I found cooking and when I found, you know, that that was my place, like
23:59
the kitchen was my place, I was able to really put all of that energy into what
24:03
I was doing, um, with a career choice.
24:07
And it just kind of all fell together in the way that it was meant to.
24:11
But it took a little bit of time figuring it out.
24:14
So I walked, many years just with this fire inside of me not really
24:18
knowing what to do within this energy.
24:20
But there's just, the fire represents so many different things in my life.
24:24
And I remember specifically telling my mom when I. Came to the realization
24:29
reflecting that I had been homeless in Los Angeles and I was couch surfing and I had
24:34
everything in the trunk of my car trying to figure out what to do in my life.
24:38
As a young woman in Los Angeles, my mom's like, you need to come home.
24:41
Yeah.
24:42
And I remember specifically the sentence I said to her was, as long as I'm waking
24:46
up every day with this burning desire in my heart to do something, like I can't
24:49
just, you know, throw in the towel and then, and come home, I would be, I would
24:54
forever regret that and that sentence, you know, and that idea was really what
24:59
stemmed the rest of everything else, And just understanding that fire plays
25:02
a huge part in who I am and, um, and, and my personality and my passion.
25:09
So it represents all of that.
25:10
And, and, and being a member of the, of, of my tribe in which we
25:15
utilize fire as in our ceremony.
25:17
So rooted in fire really just was like the best.
25:22
Title to Encompass all in which what this book is.
25:26
Yeah.
25:26
And sometimes I think as cookbook authors, we kind of get attached to the title
25:31
that we think it might be, or the title that we worked our proposal around.
25:36
But, um, I think there always is value in trusting other people,
25:40
especially if it's the publishing.
25:42
Maybe they can see it from a different angle, from a different perspective.
25:46
And, um, I think that being open to a title change
25:50
usually is a beneficial thing.
25:52
Mm-hmm.
25:53
Um, unless an author really has a, you know, major reason for sticking
25:57
with something original, I think it's, it's good to keep an open
26:00
mind and it is perfect because the fire feels a lot more deeper to me.
26:04
Um, it feels very connected to what you're talking about.
26:08
And of course, uh, cooking and fire go back.
26:12
Mm-hmm.
26:12
How long, I mean, since the beginning of the dawning man, they, yeah.
26:16
People making fire.
26:19
Then cooking something on it.
26:20
That's what cooking's all about, the application of heat
26:23
to some sort of, uh, of food.
26:25
So, um, it's great.
26:27
I love, and I love that it actually is connected to the, the tribe directly.
26:33
Mm-hmm.
26:34
Absolutely.
26:35
Yeah.
26:35
I don't think that that was a coincidence.
26:37
Do you?
26:37
No.
26:39
Yeah, I don't really think so.
26:41
So let's talk a little bit about the language of your people and then
26:44
we'll dive into some of the chapters.
26:47
Of course.
26:48
So we have, oh, go ahead.
26:50
Sorry.
26:50
No, no, you, yeah.
26:51
I want you to Yeah.
26:52
Expl, tell us all about it.
26:54
Yeah.
26:54
So I, I really wanted to incorporate the Potawatomi language in this book
26:59
because unfortunately our language is on the verge of extinction.
27:03
There are only a handful of, um, fluent speakers left in our, in our
27:07
communities, and being a fire keeper.
27:11
To dive a little bit into, into that as well is, is being a conduit of, of
27:17
the, of the knowledge that our, and the traditions that our, our people have.
27:21
And, and keeping all of that alive and making sure that, you know, I'm
27:25
doing my due diligence as an indigenous person to stay connected to that and
27:30
to continue to inspire others to stay connected to it in our communities.
27:33
And so I don't speak fluently like, but I am learning and I started learning.
27:39
Maybe over a decade ago, I, I printed out this entire encyclopedia of all
27:44
of, all of these like, terms and, and dictionary and just trying to like learn.
27:50
And I got to learning all of my numbers, but then I was like, well, I
27:55
don't have anyone to talk about, you know, talk about this with my mom was
27:58
she doesn't know our language and my grandmother didn't know our language.
28:01
And now that you go online, you can find a lot of language courses, which
28:04
is phenomenal and great because we are, in the middle of a movement of really
28:08
inspiring our youth to want to be fluent speakers of our pot Wabi language.
28:13
So I was like, you know, I think it would be really awesome to add
28:17
some of that language into the book.
28:18
That way it's published and it's there and it's tangible.
28:22
And obviously being a member of that, of my tribe, that's, that's
28:25
something that's very important to us.
28:26
And so I wanted to make sure that there was that connection with the language and
28:31
with every single chapter, just giving some, some words and, and just, um.
28:38
What is the word I'm looking for?
28:39
Translating, um, some of those translation.
28:43
Translating some of those words that pertain to each of these, um, chapters, I
28:47
thought was gonna be a really awesome way.
28:50
And I'm currently working on a YouTube series that's going to live on the
28:54
education page of my website, where you can hear the, the language being spoken.
29:00
And those are, um, just super.
29:03
Helpful just to, to hear and learn for our youth and for them to be
29:06
able to use it as a learning tool.
29:08
Um, but I think a lot of people can read it and say, oh, I wonder how you pronounce
29:12
that, or, you know, just, I wanna get people more curious about our language.
29:16
And so I'm really excited about that.
29:19
That adds another layer into just the work that I do.
29:21
It's, it's taking a little bit more time than I, than I anticipated and hoped, but
29:26
I think that everything comes and, and waves in the way that it's supposed to.
29:31
And I've been working with a lot of, um, people that represent
29:34
different, um, Potawatomi tribes.
29:36
So we actually have eight bands of our tribes, so working with each of
29:39
them to kind of not narrow down some of the dialect, um, of our language,
29:44
but the language is a derivative from the anishnabe language that
29:48
also the, you knowWe people, we also kind of speak the same language,
29:52
but they're different dialects.
29:54
So, um, it's really about.
29:57
Kind of like identifying what our dialect is as Potawatomi people
30:00
within this group of people.
30:02
So the language is something that is, it's very particular, it's very hard
30:05
to speak, but, um, it's beautiful.
30:09
So the language was something that was very important to me.
30:11
Yeah, I think so too.
30:13
So there's a nice, uh, some pronunciation, keys and also, uh, code that, um,
30:17
helps with, uh, learning the language and some pronunciation in the book.
30:21
So that's a great tool for people, um, if they're using the book or
30:25
perusing the book to be able to link to that, um, information.
30:29
So let's start with chapter one because the, it's called The Way of the Hunter.
30:33
And let's talk a little bit about, uh, meat and the types of, uh, protein
30:37
sources that you, uh, use in the book and, um, why those were chosen and what
30:44
people might expect from a cookbook.
30:47
And maybe a little bit about sourcing some of the foods if
30:50
we're gonna try to cook them.
30:52
Absolutely.
30:53
The way of the hunter obviously talks about, um, respecting the
30:57
animals that we're consuming if we are consuming, um, animal protein.
31:02
And I, I tell personal story, story and journey about how
31:05
my grandfather is a hunter.
31:06
And I went hunting with him for the first time a few winters ago and was
31:10
able to experience that firsthand.
31:12
Later on, um, or earlier that year, I was actually able to do
31:16
a, um, a bison butchery class with a group of indigenous women.
31:22
And it was led by some Lakota, um, leaders of their tribe.
31:27
And just that experience alone was just.
31:29
Out of this world and just all the education that came along with it and
31:33
the connection to the, to the bison with the Lakota people specifically
31:38
was just something that stays with me and I think about very often.
31:43
And just to learn about the beauty behind these animals and how they're seen
31:48
as relatives, but not just relatives, ancestors because they came before us
31:53
and a lot of our indigenous tribes across the United States, the way that we.
31:58
Um, learned a lot of our social cues and social roles are by watching animals.
32:03
So just to give you one example for us as Potawatomi people, we're connected
32:08
to birds and, um, birds are very sacred for us, um, specifically, and
32:13
we, when we go and do our ceremonial.
32:16
Dinners rather than standing in a line when you're, you know, going through
32:20
the buffet of food that, you know, everyone brings something and they bring
32:23
something to the table and instead of going and standing in a line, we all
32:26
flock to the table as if we were birds.
32:29
We get what we want to get a little bit, and then we go back to our seats, and
32:32
then when we want more, we'll come back.
32:34
So it's not like we are, you know, standing in line.
32:36
And that was just really to honor the, the social roles and just to
32:41
mimic the, the behavior and the characteristics that we see and hear
32:45
in animal life because those are our ancestors and we learn a lot from them.
32:49
Um, you know, the.
32:52
Northern tribes learned that maple trees gave us sap by watching squirrels, you
32:57
know, um, tap sap out of maple trees.
33:01
So it's little things like that that we really thought about, you know,
33:04
as indigenous people, like we have to honor these, that these other
33:08
animals and these other living things that are just as important as we are.
33:12
So I really wanted to dedicate the protein, the animal protein, um,
33:17
chapter at the beginning pages, really honoring the bison and just really
33:20
giving an explanation as to why we need to be thinking about these things
33:23
when we're consuming protein meat.
33:25
So, of course there's bison meat.
33:27
Um, we also have, um, white fish that's wrapped in.
33:31
Um, corn huss, that's steamed.
33:33
There's also a quail barbecue, quail, raspberry mezcal
33:37
barbecue, quail, um, recipe.
33:40
There's also deer meat.
33:42
Um, we eat a lot of deer meat and a lot of bison from in my tribe, specifically
33:46
because we are from the plains.
33:47
And my grandfather does a lot of deer hunting every year for us,
33:50
and every year he gets a buck for my mom for her birthday.
33:53
So growing up, eating deer meat was, um, something that I didn't realize was a
33:57
privilege and a gift, especially knowing that my grandfather brought it for us.
34:01
It was like, oh, we'll put it in the freezer and we'll use that when
34:04
we don't have anything else to eat.
34:05
And so it was like that.
34:07
So, but we were eating deer meat all the time.
34:09
But, um, yeah, just really honoring this, these proteins in a way
34:13
that, um, we don't normally see.
34:15
And.
34:16
In, in the modern day.
34:18
And I have seen now that there are more options for sustainable and
34:22
regenerative, um, protein options in some of our grocery stores.
34:26
So bison is now, um, very widely accessible to people
34:31
that in, in grocery stores.
34:32
And now I'm starting to see venison being a little bit more
34:35
accessible, which is great.
34:37
So when we think about sourcing, where are we getting them from?
34:40
But the greatest thing about bison specifically is that there are
34:43
laws, conservation, conservation laws in place to protect the way
34:47
that those bison are being ranched.
34:50
And I think that's the best thing that we can do is focus
34:52
on regenerative, um, sustainable ways of, of, of consuming meat.
34:58
Yeah.
34:58
Um, so yeah.
35:00
And, and, uh, the, I live in northern Kentucky and we're on the border of
35:05
Ohio and in southern Ohio there's Vista Grande Ranch, which is a bison farm.
35:11
So there is locally raised and um.
35:15
You know, I don't know if they process it there, but you can buy
35:18
their bison, um, around the area at certain, uh, supermarkets.
35:22
And so I always thought that was kind of fascinating that
35:24
people were getting into that.
35:26
And, um, I know at my supermarket it's, uh, not that brand in particular,
35:32
but bison is, uh, readily available.
35:34
And of course, fish would make sense.
35:37
That's, you know, easy for people to access.
35:39
And then, uh, quail was the other one that you mentioned, which,
35:42
um, I think I've seen that also.
35:44
So I do think that there is, um, places people can get this, and of
35:48
course, even in my own family, you know, people that hunt, um, this type
35:53
of, uh, vi the venison's available.
35:55
So I, I think that it is, um.
36:00
At least from now.
36:02
Sometimes I think my perspective's a little tainted 'cause I'm
36:04
kind of in the food space.
36:06
Do you know what I mean?
36:07
Right.
36:07
I like see things, I notice things I pay attention to what's available for
36:11
us to buy and know some food producers.
36:14
But, um, I, I do believe that, um, from the protein perspective,
36:21
more than just beef, lamb, pork, chicken, people are looking for
36:25
some, uh, different types of things.
36:27
So it's a very exciting time and um, your recipes will fit in great with
36:30
that and the, um, history of them also.
36:33
For sure.
36:34
So the gardening is something that we kind of touched on earlier that uh, it's
36:39
kind of a misnomer that it wasn't part of, um, indigenous, what indigenous people
36:45
did, but, um, let's talk about gardening.
36:48
Okay.
36:49
Yeah.
36:49
Gardening's, one of my favorite hobbies right now.
36:54
Um.
36:55
I love the story about how they plant the three seeds.
36:58
You know, it makes me think of, uh, like even the tr trinity, like, um, if you
37:02
think about cooking like New Orleans cooking, when they talk about the Holy
37:06
Trinity and their vegetables that they saute to start gumbo, for example, that
37:11
these, this concept of three things together, um, I think it shows up in a lot
37:16
of different ways, not just in food, but even in people's faith, uh, traditions.
37:20
So, um, I love that that was, you know, that's a very important
37:26
part of the, um, gardening.
37:28
And tell us a little bit about your experience with it, maybe even growing
37:32
up and, um, what you'd like people to know related to your cookbook.
37:36
Absolutely.
37:37
Well, I do speak a bit about the three sisters, which is in a, um, sacred,
37:42
um, agricultural planting method, which is the beans of corn and the squash,
37:47
which are three very sacred ingredients for indigenous folks across Turtle
37:51
Island and what we call United States.
37:53
Um, but also as you mentioned, that number three being very sacred because
37:57
of the seeds, you know, um, planting one for mother earth, planting, one for
38:02
our relatives that are gonna come nibble on it, our little animal relatives.
38:05
And then of course, one for us to harvest.
38:07
And just having that intentionality and frequency goes a long way, especially
38:12
when you are expecting the land to provide something for us, we have to
38:16
be thinking in a way of reciprocation.
38:19
And just really, um, honoring that relationship is that thing
38:22
person that's very important.
38:24
So I, um, I actually lost my grandmother last year.
38:27
My, my, my native grandma, who I actually talk a lot about in this book.
38:31
And it came as, um, a surprise.
38:34
You know, she, she just, her, her health just declined really
38:39
rapidly within a three month span.
38:41
And she had Parkinson's that she had been diagnosed with and had for quite
38:44
some time, and it just kind of, you know, had its time to, to come forward.
38:49
And, um, unfortunately she didn't survive it, but she was
38:53
not much of a gardener herself.
38:56
She was the grandmother that would, um, you know, her specialty was.
39:01
Chili dogs with extra onions.
39:03
You know, she, she didn't do much planting of her own, but she did often
39:07
take me down the road when I lived on the reservation with her, um, to this
39:11
guy who used to, um, he was kind of like our local gardener and he just had a
39:16
normal, a normal size of a home and lot.
39:19
But the way that he utilized the.
39:22
The square footage of his yard was just like really, really interesting.
39:26
And we would always go buy tomatoes from him or okra or whatever.
39:31
He was growing during that time of the year in the summer or whatever it was.
39:35
We would, we would be, we would be buying stuff from him.
39:37
And my grandma used to always say, we need to support him.
39:40
You know this, he's an old man and he survives off of what he sells in his yard.
39:45
And so that kind of always stuck with me even as an adult, you know?
39:49
And the older I got, the more I realized like, you don't have to have a huge lot
39:53
of land to go and plant stuff on your own.
39:55
So I, I do a lot of gardening on my own now.
39:58
And if there is a, I mean, when there is a a, a second book, I really want to
40:03
incorporate a lot of, um, useful tips and tricks on how to garden in small spaces.
40:09
But, um, back to the topic of, you know, guarding in the book, um, the actual, the.
40:16
Chapter that is gathered from the gardens is really honoring those ingredients that
40:20
come fresh from a garden, kind of like your leafy greens, um, your salads and
40:25
things like that, your vegetable forward dishes and just, um, I think, I think
40:30
more people in this generation and this time are wanting to garden on their own,
40:36
specifically for the reason of not being able to trust our current food systems
40:40
and the way that those are being grown.
40:42
The, the vegetables and the fruits being, um, exposed to different
40:45
pesticides and things like that.
40:46
But.
40:47
Um, you know, gardening just allows us to really connect further and
40:51
deeper to land and understanding the, the importance of soil health.
40:55
And that's something that I nerd out on frequently is just talk, talking
40:59
about, uh, you know, soil health to other people and how I'm getting my
41:02
soil healthy in my backyard so I can grow what I want to grow in my yard.
41:07
But it was a, and I bring up my grandmother because gardening was a
41:11
really big part of my healing from that whole loss, which, um, you know,
41:16
I would go in my garden and just spend hours back there crying and planting
41:20
seeds and just putting a lot of my.
41:23
My sadness into that.
41:25
But, um, it, it was just something that was very healing for me during that
41:29
timeframe, and I think that is something that I will always have, which is special.
41:35
Um, and whatever grew from that time, I just thought like, wow,
41:39
look at all of these beautiful flowers that are blooming or.
41:42
Uh, during that timeframe, I planted kale and we had, you know, our first harvest
41:46
of kale and we were eating this salad from kale that I grew in the backyard.
41:49
And I was like, my tears are in the soil of this kale.
41:53
Yeah.
41:54
What a wonderful tribute to your grandmother.
41:56
She sounds like a wonderful woman and the, um, thought that she
42:00
would, uh, financially help to, you know, buy the vegetables from the
42:04
gentleman down the, the street and, um, support him, uh, through buying,
42:09
um, the food that he was growing.
42:10
It was amazing, even though it wasn't something that she necessarily, um,
42:16
she probably enjoyed eating it, but it wasn't something that, you know,
42:18
she grew or, um, she just wanted to connect with him and, uh, share.
42:23
Yeah.
42:24
So that's amazing.
42:24
She, um, I'm sure she lives in your memory.
42:27
She's in this book and, um, I think that her memory, it's hard.
42:34
Grandparents, it's interesting, especially if you spent time with grandparents.
42:37
Um, it's such a different relationship from our parents and, um.
42:43
I was fortunate also, like, you know, to spend time with,
42:47
uh, my maternal grandmother.
42:48
And there's just something about it that, um, it's never another, there's never
42:53
another person that can fill that space.
42:55
Wonderful.
42:56
Um, very, very special people.
42:58
So, um, gardening is a wonderful therapy, I'm sure.
43:02
And, uh, you're right, you don't need a lot of space, so I can't wait for
43:05
you to explore that in your next book.
43:09
All right.
43:10
Um, soups and stews, let's talk a little bit about that and then
43:16
also, um, yeah, let's, let's dive into the soups and stews.
43:21
Definitely.
43:21
So, soups and stews in my mind and heart.
43:25
Soups are the most underrated food of all cuisines, like soups.
43:30
I would never turn down a bowl of soup.
43:32
I don't.
43:32
I don't care what time of year it is.
43:34
It's always one of my go-to kind of comfort foods just because there's nothing
43:38
more comforting than something that's been brewing and stewing for hours.
43:42
And you just are able to build so much, you know, dynamic flavor and
43:46
just, oh, it's just my favorite.
43:47
It's my favorite, favorite kind of like dish.
43:49
But, um, this particular chapter of the book, I also incorporate fry bread.
43:54
Obvious for obvious reasons that you eat fry bread with our soups and stews,
43:59
especially, um, us as native folks, that's what is always on the table.
44:03
That and corn soup was always on the table at my grandmother's house, so
44:06
that's one of my most nostalgic dishes is either the chicken po vere that I have
44:11
in the rest in the cookbook or the corn.
44:14
Uh, and bison stew.
44:16
So my grandmother always made it with beef just because that was what was available.
44:20
Um, when we lived on the reservation, we didn't have access to much bison
44:23
'cause my grandmother didn't eat it.
44:25
She thought it was.
44:27
Too gamey for her.
44:29
Yeah.
44:29
Um, which is interesting because that's one of her ancestral foods.
44:32
But, you know, then again, we have to like, go back to the
44:34
conversation of reconnecting folks with their ancestral foods.
44:37
But That's right.
44:37
Um, you know, she, she ate, we, we had it with beef all the time, but I, um, I, um.
44:45
Wanted to make sure I put bison in this particular recipe because I'm
44:48
really converting myself into consuming more of that bison than the the beef.
44:53
But we have the bison corn soup, which is a staple in our family.
44:57
My grandmother was the one that taught me how to make that recipe.
45:00
And the fry bread as well were the two things that my, my
45:03
grandmother taught me how to make simultaneously at the same time.
45:06
I remember being in her kitchen and just, you know, hearing her describe
45:10
what to look for when you are making the dough for this fry bread and
45:15
you want it to be sticky and light.
45:16
And if it's, you know, if it's too hard or if you mix it too
45:19
much, this is what's gonna happen.
45:21
So I just remember her specifically, you know, giving me those details so
45:25
that way I understood what to look for.
45:27
Because our grandmothers don't teach us with recipes.
45:30
They teach us with, you know, actually showing us and, and saying, oh, you
45:34
know, look how much is in my hand.
45:35
This is about how much you wanna put in there.
45:37
And it's like's like, okay, let me try to like convert those,
45:40
um, you know, little salt cups.
45:43
Two teaspoons in, in my mind as a chef.
45:46
But, um, and then of course the, the chicken is not indigenous, but
45:51
it's something I grew up eating and we talk about being authentic.
45:53
I was like, it wouldn't make sense for me to put rabbit in this PO sole because
45:56
I didn't eat rabbit that like that.
46:00
Um, so I kept it true to what I grew up eating.
46:02
And Po Sole was always something that we loved to eat on the weekends
46:06
is either po sole or man noodle.
46:08
I didn't love man because of the texture of the, the tripe.
46:12
But yeah, chicken as a, as a child a younger was, was, I could do that.
46:16
But those were my two favorites growing up.
46:20
And the soups and stews.
46:21
Um, there's also a New Mexico soup, which I made for the, the
46:25
first dinner that I ever made.
46:27
As, you know, stepping into being a chef that focused on indigenous foods.
46:31
The New Mexico Soup, uh, stew was the.
46:35
One of the, the dishes of a four course meal that I created for my friends on
46:39
my birthday one year, they said, PI, where do you wanna go for your birthday?
46:43
I said, oh, I don't wanna go anywhere.
46:44
I'm gonna host a dinner, a four course dinner, and you guys are gonna buy tickets
46:48
and I'm gonna feed you on my birthday.
46:50
And they're like, you're crazy.
46:51
But it was a success and it was great.
46:53
And that New Mexico stew is something that I made for that.
46:57
And everyone absolutely loved it.
46:58
So it became a staple from that point forward.
47:01
But this particular chapter for me is just, it just speaks home.
47:06
It speaks of all my favorite things.
47:08
I think a lot of people when they, you know, get offered a bowl of
47:11
soup, they instantly have this like, warm feeling in their spirits and
47:15
in their hearts, and they're like, oh, I'm gonna be full after this.
47:17
But just the right amount of full, I'm not gonna feel heavy.
47:20
You're gonna feel like nourished and, and hydrated.
47:24
So soups are, are one of my favorite things to eat.
47:27
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
47:28
I think they're the best.
47:29
And sometimes, uh, just the flavors that.
47:32
Even just the broth contain and then the nice vegetables and in your, you
47:36
know, the meat that you put into it.
47:38
It's, it's wonderful that, um, Pozo looks really good.
47:41
I love radishes on the pozole and, um, the green pozole with the radishes.
47:47
It is, looks beautiful.
47:48
So I'm gonna have to give that a try.
47:50
Mm-hmm.
47:51
So, um.
47:52
Hony and dried corn.
47:54
Can you talk about that for a minute?
47:56
Um, I see the dried corn used in the bison in corn that your grandmother taught you.
48:01
And then of course, hony is something that is used, um, often in, uh, ole yeah.
48:08
Mm-hmm.
48:08
So hony and corn are obviously in the same family, but they are texturally
48:13
a little different, and obviously they, they taste a little different.
48:16
So, um, the corn that is utilized in the bison and corn soup is
48:22
specifically a sweet dried corn.
48:25
And that sweetness of that corn really brings the broth to life in
48:29
that corn and bison stew or soup.
48:33
And that was something my grandmother said, you always have to use sweet corn.
48:37
And she told me specifically, look for cokes, which, um, oddly enough
48:42
at this point is not even popular anymore, but at, during her time
48:46
and in Oklahoma, she could find it.
48:49
At her very specific spots that she would go shop at.
48:51
And she was like, oh, I can find it.
48:53
And then when she told me to look for that, and the more I started looking
48:56
for her, I'm like, grandmother, I can't find this corn anywhere.
48:59
But funny enough, when we were doing the photo shoot for this particular
49:04
recipe, we were looking, I was like, I wanna go look around and see what
49:06
I can find in this big prop studio.
49:09
And they had this.
49:10
Super old antique copes, um, canister that had just been
49:16
randomly sitting on the shelf.
49:18
And I was like, wow, this is a coincidence.
49:20
You know what I mean?
49:21
What are the chances of that?
49:22
Right.
49:23
What are the chances?
49:24
So I, I utilized that when we were doing the, the photography for that particular
49:28
dish, which I thought was so cool.
49:29
But Dried Sweet Corn itself has just such a, um, there's, you
49:33
know, we see corn as a relative.
49:35
There's over 2000 species of corn.
49:37
Unfortunately, we only get to see the gold yellow one in our grocery stores.
49:40
Sometimes you'll get a, a chance to find a blue, blue corn somewhere,
49:44
but it's usually like in a flour.
49:46
You don't really get to see the cobs, the blue corn cobs.
49:49
And if it's Thanksgiving time or fall, you'll see what we call quote
49:52
unquote Indian core, which is more so the brown and reddish variations that
49:57
are kind of like those fall colors.
49:59
Um, and I think Whole Foods now does a pretty good job at, at being able to.
50:03
Provide that for whatever people wanna use it for decorative reasons.
50:06
But, um, there's over 2000 species of corn and I could go on for
50:12
hours about how beautiful corn is.
50:14
And my most recent, um, adventures in life was I'm now, uh, an
50:19
executive producer and host of a show called, um, spirit Plate with PBS.
50:24
And we take a trip over to the Onaga Nation where we meet with Angela
50:29
Ferguson, who's a director of their, um.
50:32
Their, um, indigenous food and farm program, but she has a, they have a seed
50:37
bank and it's the, the world's largest seed bank of indigenous seeds and corn
50:43
kernels and seeds and beans and squash.
50:46
And just going in there and looking at all of these beautiful
50:49
variations of colors of corn.
50:51
And of course, some of them are the wider, bigger corns, like
50:54
white corn that look like Homi.
50:57
Uh, and so just like being able to incorporate corn in these
50:59
recipes for me is super important.
51:02
And I want to do more with corn, and I wanna explore more of recipes with corn.
51:08
But for, for this particular story, um, that I talk about, you know, going
51:12
back to, um, the, the seed bank, the moment I walked into this room of this
51:19
seed bank and they had all of these seeds and these corn kernels in jars
51:23
labeled and where they come from and how old they are, we're talking about
51:27
corn that is like 4,000 years old.
51:31
Corn that has been, you know, brought to her from other museums or different,
51:36
um, you know, crevices of the world, you know, or of the, of, of the country
51:40
of saying, I found these Kers in someone's basement and they were labeled.
51:45
And, um, she had these in her possession and they guard them like their relatives.
51:50
And the moment you walk into this room, you can just feel.
51:53
The spirit of the, the, the, the ancestors.
51:57
And it put, you know, just yeah.
51:59
Goosebumps all over my body.
52:01
And I just like, I felt like this, like if it just felt so overwhelming
52:06
and powerful and just beautiful.
52:08
And I knew from that point forward I was like, I actually have a corn kernel.
52:12
Uh, a corn, the cob tattooed on my wrist.
52:15
But I got that before this happened.
52:16
Yeah.
52:17
But I've just been so, I feel so connected to this particular crop and it's one
52:21
of the most powerful crops in the world now because of what it's used for and
52:25
so many different variations of ways.
52:26
But as an indigenous person, the corn represented so many different
52:30
things and resilience, and you hear about these stories about how.
52:34
Um, you know, for the Apache folks, the corn, their corn fields were burnt
52:39
down during the removal of indigenous people and their food systems.
52:44
And the Apache people had to utilize that corn to feed themselves.
52:48
So they had to eat burnt corn.
52:49
And now if you look at some of their traditional recipes, they incorporated
52:53
bo, specifically burnt corn.
52:55
And just the evolution of food and the things that have taken
52:58
place in the history of indigenous people from this country.
53:03
Um, and corn, the connection to it, it's very beautiful.
53:06
So when we think about the variations of corn, it's good to see.
53:09
Yeah, because, you know, we think about the variations of dried beans, like so
53:12
many different varieties of dried beans.
53:14
And I think what you're describing to me sounds like corn.
53:17
It's the same thing.
53:19
It's just, uh, hasn't really probably been totally explored
53:25
through, um, cookery here in the us.
53:30
Mm-hmm.
53:30
Um, and where did you say the seed bank was located?
53:34
The, uh, it's in Onaga Nation, which is near Syracuse, New York.
53:39
Amazing.
53:40
Amazing.
53:40
Mm-hmm.
53:41
Yeah.
53:42
Those kinds of places are really important.
53:44
Um, absolutely.
53:45
Yeah.
53:46
So that's, yeah, that's a amazing story.
53:48
So that's very exciting about the corn.
53:50
I don't know, um, how all unfold, maybe you know a little bit more
53:55
about that, but beans obviously have taken on kind of a life of their own.
54:00
Um, I wonder if corn will do the same, I hope.
54:04
Yeah.
54:05
Yeah.
54:05
Because you know, the shapes, sizes, colors, you know, black
54:08
beans, all the different, um, I say you could make a mosaic outta
54:12
different types of dried beans.
54:14
Yes, absolutely.
54:15
Probably could do the same thing with the corn.
54:17
If you thought about all those different, uh, shapes and colors that were in the
54:20
room that you were in, um, same thing.
54:23
Have they tried to grow any of them?
54:24
Do you know?
54:25
Yes, they, well, what they do is they, um, return them back to the
54:29
tribes in which they belong to.
54:31
Yeah.
54:31
And, um, the tribes have to be prepared because once they, it's basically
54:36
like returning an ancestors' bones.
54:38
Yeah, yeah.
54:38
To the grave.
54:38
That's kind of what it feels like.
54:40
And so she has to educate them on like, are they allowed to grow,
54:44
grow some then if they can, yeah.
54:46
Yeah.
54:46
If they, if the tribe gives them, um, you know, the, okay.
54:49
And they feel a called to, they'll do it.
54:51
But they themselves have been able to, um, find some, some seeds that were particular
54:59
to that region and replant them.
55:01
So they actually have a squash.
55:03
And I have this on the episode, if you're ever interested in watching it, it's.
55:07
Spirit plate on a dog nation.
55:09
Okay.
55:09
And, um, I got the privilege of eating a squash from a 4,000 year old seed that
55:18
they replanted, and they got four of them.
55:22
And one of the four is the one that they, they cooked it and they preserved it.
55:27
And then we ate it there on, on show.
55:30
Um, and we cooked it and it was just so delicious.
55:33
And it was unlike any squash I'd ever had in my life.
55:36
It was incredible.
55:37
Yeah.
55:38
I think as seeds are, you know, they've been, everything's been
55:42
so narrowed down to like what we have available in the supermarket.
55:47
And, uh, I think the, the closest I came to something like that was when
55:51
we went to drink wine from really old vines, like Zinfandel Vines.
55:57
Maybe they were in California, now, California of course.
56:00
Um, they had had a blight, but there were certain wines that.
56:03
You know, they were able, or vines that were still able to survive.
56:08
Mm-hmm.
56:08
And, uh, I think old ancient agricultural things that are still continuing to
56:16
produce or that we have the seeds for that are still, that potential was
56:20
still there for that corn to like grow.
56:23
It's incredible.
56:23
Yeah.
56:23
And the same thing for the squash that you just ate.
56:26
Um, I guess the, the potential never goes away inside the seed.
56:30
It just has to be taken care of.
56:32
Planted Absolutely grown.
56:33
And then I guess the seeds can be saved again.
56:36
So it actually multiplies the availability once you plant it and, um, save the seeds.
56:43
Absolutely.
56:44
Mm-hmm.
56:44
Yeah.
56:44
You know, heirloom tomatoes, um, so many different varieties and kinds.
56:48
I think there was a, a story about a gentleman in the south that had done
56:52
the same thing for tomato plants.
56:54
Um, collecting heirloom and apples, heirloom apples and
56:57
different varieties of apples.
56:58
So, uh, it's really, really, uh, fascinating.
57:02
And that's.
57:03
Where you would, it seems so narrow, but yet it's so deep, you know,
57:07
for all these different foods, different varieties, different seeds.
57:11
Um, it's great.
57:13
So yeah, thank you for talking about the corn.
57:15
I think that's, uh, wonderful.
57:17
Alright, so one other chapter I wanted to talk a little bit about was the tea
57:24
and the tea in spirits, because there's some really interesting drinks in here
57:27
that are still very connected to nature.
57:30
Something that I noticed that you've said a couple of times is the noticing
57:34
of things taking place in nature and how that informed the indigenous
57:38
people about what they should try to do, like the squirrels and the maple.
57:43
Mm-hmm.
57:44
And, um, paying attention to the seasons and the daylight and what's going on
57:48
outside that, during that time of year.
57:51
Mm-hmm.
57:51
And um, the tea that caught my attention is the one with cedar in it.
57:57
Uh, yeah, I think maybe because it's winter time and we just, you know, have
58:01
kind of, uh, this time of year I love, uh, uh, pine trees, um, evergreens like that.
58:08
So tell us a little bit about that tea.
58:10
Absolutely.
58:10
So the cedar and maple tea is something that is very sacred, um, for me
58:15
specifically, mainly because of the cedar.
58:18
The cedar for our tribe is a medicine, uh, plant medicine that
58:23
we utilize, um, during our smudging.
58:26
So California white sage has been, um, very popularized across, you
58:31
know, the world really for u utilizing as smudging, because that's what
58:35
folks over in this region did.
58:37
'cause I live in Los Angeles.
58:38
But, um, cedar is actually something.
58:40
Kiki is what we call in our, in our, um, Potawatomi language is a
58:44
sacred plant, and that's utilized for smudging and, and different, you know,
58:48
ceremonial purposes for our people.
58:50
But it's also an amazing tea.
58:53
And the first time I ever had cedar tea was, um, during a
58:58
naming ceremony for my nephews.
59:01
I, I was obviously too little to remember my naming ceremony.
59:05
Naming C ceremonies is when you get your native given name from your tribe.
59:09
That name is a namesake that has been in the family, uh,
59:13
lineage for, for many years.
59:15
And so we just, um, passed down those names and they stay within our family.
59:18
So I remember being at my, my nephew's naming ceremony and having
59:22
the cedar tea with maple, and it was just so incredibly just.
59:28
I don't really know how to, it just, it just tasted healing.
59:31
You know, when you think about something tasting foresty and green, like
59:34
that's exactly what it tastes like.
59:36
It just tastes like you walked into a pine, a field of pine trees or
59:41
cedar trees and, but it's in your mouth, And it's just so delicious.
59:45
And the, and pairs perfectly with the maple.
59:48
And so this is something that I like to drink when I'm doing a
59:52
little, you know, quiet time for myself or if I'm doing some kind of
59:56
like meditation or ceremony for me.
59:58
And that alone time is really important.
1:00:00
And so this is a tea that I like to make for that, um, this entire.
1:00:06
Chapter actually reveals a few layers of me because I went through a, um, and,
1:00:11
and I'm back on it, but I go through these journeys of, um, sobriety and, um,
1:00:17
I spent a year being sober, curious and just wanted to see the benefits of it.
1:00:21
And I first started doing a few, I'll, I'll go a couple weeks with no alcohol and
1:00:25
I'll do a couple months with no alcohol.
1:00:27
Well, a couple months turned into like a, about a year.
1:00:30
Um, and so I just recently for the holidays, um, was able to
1:00:34
enjoy a few cocktails and stuff.
1:00:35
I love the flavor of alcohol.
1:00:37
I just don't love the effects of it.
1:00:39
Yeah.
1:00:40
And especially mezcal like that.
1:00:41
Smokiness, there's a lot of mezcal and this and the, and, and the, um,
1:00:45
the recipes of some of these, uh, mock cocktails, but there's some mocktails in
1:00:50
there for those that don't enjoy spirits.
1:00:51
But, um, and the teas, the teas for the, for the sake of, I, I love herbs.
1:00:56
I love brewing a nice.
1:00:58
Cup of tea.
1:00:59
I have tea every single day, whether it's in the morning or at night.
1:01:02
And, um, it's good for us.
1:01:04
Yes.
1:01:04
And I think there are so many benefits to tea that people don't realize, like some
1:01:09
of our issues healthwise or skin wise can be healed with, herbal remedies with tea.
1:01:18
Yeah.
1:01:19
So can you touch on foraging for us and, um, if that's something that
1:01:23
you've discussed in the book or what you would want people to know if
1:01:27
they definitely, they are going to maybe approach some of these things.
1:01:31
What's important to remember?
1:01:33
Absolutely.
1:01:33
When you're foraging, you always wanna make sure you're forging from
1:01:37
a space in a place that is not close to a busy road because all of the
1:01:40
emissions from the gas and, and, and vehicles, they can taint whatever it
1:01:45
is that you are going to be consuming.
1:01:48
Um, so I would say try to go out into, into nature.
1:01:51
Obviously be respectful.
1:01:53
Um, if whatever it is that you are forging, do research on the proper ways
1:01:58
to forage, because when it comes to people that I've seen out here in Los
1:02:02
Angeles, when they're forging sage, for instance, um, you have to know that you
1:02:07
don't take the, from the, the branches or the plant that's closest to the ground
1:02:11
because those are the younger, um, plants you wanna get the ones, the leaves that
1:02:16
are a little bit higher and bigger, um, and you only take a little bit.
1:02:20
So our, here we go with our sacred number three, but we always take one third
1:02:24
of what's there because you want to leave the rest for either someone else
1:02:28
and you don't wanna like over forage.
1:02:29
So making sure that you have something to come back to is very, very important.
1:02:34
Um, and just doing lots of research on making sure you're identifying the
1:02:38
right plants is very important because, um, there's obviously dangers out there
1:02:42
of eating the wrong thing or touching something that you shouldn't touch.
1:02:46
Um, so I would definitely say education is major key.
1:02:50
Um, but forging is something that I, I love doing and I felt empowered doing,
1:02:55
um, on my journey of reconnecting and just being able to identify
1:02:59
things and what they're used for.
1:03:00
So now I'm in my backyard, in my garden and if I see some dandelion
1:03:04
greens that most people would say, oh my gosh, these are weeds.
1:03:07
If we're getting rid of 'em.
1:03:08
I'm like, we'll leave that one.
1:03:09
We'll leave that patch there because I make tea from dandelion greens now.
1:03:13
Yeah.
1:03:14
Or I'll eat them in my salads.
1:03:15
And so just little things like that is just feeling really empowered by
1:03:19
understanding the use of some things and that you don't have to get rid of
1:03:22
everything that you consider a weed.
1:03:24
Um, but yeah, forging is something that I've have found very empowered with.
1:03:28
Yeah, that's great.
1:03:29
That knowledge.
1:03:30
Great.
1:03:30
Yeah.
1:03:30
Thank you.
1:03:31
That's wonderful.
1:03:32
So as we're wrapping up, um, thank you so much for everything
1:03:36
that you've told us today.
1:03:37
I think we've barely, probably just scratched the surface.
1:03:41
Um, I think everybody needs to tune in to spirit plate on PBS
1:03:45
and learn more about what you, um.
1:03:48
Know from your ancestors what you've learned.
1:03:51
And, um, I would love for you also to, um, tell us a little bit about your journey
1:03:56
with cookbooks and if you have a favorite cookbook that has influenced your, uh,
1:04:01
work in the kitchen or, or a cookbook that you turn to, um, outside of your own.
1:04:07
A cookbook that I really have enjoyed.
1:04:10
Um, I co always come back to it, not just because the photography
1:04:13
is absolutely stunning and the food styling is stunning, but Columbiana,
1:04:17
um, by, uh, Mariana Velazquez, she initially was a food stylist that
1:04:21
turned, uh, into a cookbook author.
1:04:24
And after reading her story, people were telling her, you know, you, you've
1:04:28
worked in this industry for a long time.
1:04:30
You know what you're doing.
1:04:31
You should come up with your own cookbook.
1:04:32
And she was like, well, what am I gonna write about?
1:04:34
And of course, she writes about her heritage, uh, from Columbia and
1:04:38
the way that she has been able to beautifully articulate this country
1:04:43
without, you know, kind of like you were talking about Anthony Bourdain
1:04:45
taking us to these places, uh, and, and allowing us to feel the culture
1:04:51
in, in a different way than being there was through, you know, through tv.
1:04:54
And she's doing it through this book and the way that she has, um.
1:04:59
The portraits, the pictures, the styling, everything is just so incredible.
1:05:02
And I took a lot of inspiration from that book for the photography from my
1:05:07
book, just because everything was so just moody and like lived in and just
1:05:12
looked organic and just stunningly beautiful with all the colors.
1:05:16
And the book is, is incredible.
1:05:19
The history's incredible.
1:05:20
Her personal touch and storytelling is beautiful in this book.
1:05:23
But she herself is a phenomenal food stylist.
1:05:26
And I am a, a kind of an artsy kind of gal. So I, I, I
1:05:31
care about things like that.
1:05:32
But it's something that I, it's a book that I really love and the recipes, I've
1:05:35
tried a few of them and, uh, delicious.
1:05:38
Delicious.
1:05:39
Yeah.
1:05:39
Yeah.
1:05:39
So I will link to that in the show notes.
1:05:41
Looks like a beautiful book.
1:05:43
Um, came out in 2021 and I think it's fascinating, uh, when someone
1:05:47
photographs their own cookbook.
1:05:50
Yeah.
1:05:50
Yeah.
1:05:51
Yeah.
1:05:51
It's, I mean, because you know, the work that goes into writing it and then the
1:05:55
layer of photography on top of that, uh, it's always amazing to me that people
1:06:00
can do that, uh, and have that skill of, uh, doing beautiful food photography.
1:06:04
Mm-hmm.
1:06:06
Yeah.
1:06:07
So, um, as we're wrapping up, again, I'd love to have you tell everyone
1:06:12
how they can connect with you online.
1:06:15
I am available, not available, but you can find me on Instagram.
1:06:21
Um, at Chef Piet.
1:06:23
I also have a TikTok that's also Chef Piet, and I have Facebook,
1:06:27
but, um, it's under Pyet's plate.
1:06:30
I also have a website that's www.pisplate.com, where you can find
1:06:34
all of the many things that you are looking for when it comes to Pyet's
1:06:37
plate and rooted in fire and, um.
1:06:40
Of course I have my education linked there, my educational
1:06:43
videos for language on the website.
1:06:46
That's wonderful.
1:06:47
'cause that's a totally different, um, it's connected to the cooking, but a
1:06:50
whole different, um, avenue and a way for you to, uh, share your knowledge.
1:06:55
So again, thank you so much for coming on the show.
1:06:59
Piat, it's been great to meet you.
1:07:01
I wish you nothing but the best.
1:07:02
And again, I'm talking about her beautiful new book, rooted in Fire, a celebration
1:07:07
of Native American and Mexican cooking.
1:07:11
Thank you so much for joining us today for this episode of the Cookbook Love Podcast.
1:07:16
Again, all the links can be found in the show notes@www.cookbooklove.co.
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And if you are interested in writing a cookbook of your own, please check out the
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free cookbook writing masterclass called How to Get Paid to Write a Cookbook.
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It is designed specifically for food or nutrition experts,
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and you can check that out at www.cookbookwritersacademy.com/free.
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So that's it for today's episode of the Cookbook Love podcast.
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This is your host, Maggie Green, and until next time, have a great
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day and keep loving your cookbook.
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Thanks for listening to the Cookbook Love podcast.
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You can find out more information@www.cookbooklove.co.