The Gathering Basket reclaims narratives of Indigenous foodways

When European colonists settled into areas on the East Coast in the 1600s, they encountered a land that was not always compatible with the crops the settlers brought over on their voyages. Luckily for the colonists, native inhabitants taught them about New World crops that would grow well and sustain them. Indigenous foods played a vital role in the growth of the American colonies. However, when the settlers wrote their history books (and cookbooks), the natives’ skill in cultivating, breeding, and growing the crops that subsequently became staples of the colonists’ diets was rarely, if ever, discussed.

That’s part of what makes a new virtual cookbook – by Indigenous people and for Indigenous people – so special. Written by indigenous chefs, The Gathering Basket tells the stories behind Indigenous foods like the chiltepin, the progenitor of nearly every chile pepper grown in North America. “There is such a missing piece of the puzzle when it comes to Indigenous cooking,” said M. Karlos Baca, one of the cookbook’s lead authors.

Baca says that “The narrative that has been pushed is that we were wandering the lands and just barely sustaining ourselves,” when the truth is that Indigenous peoples’ rich food traditions stretch back for centuries. They invented nixtamilization, which wrings more complete proteins from corn, for example. Indigenous farmers also developed nuanced methods of companion planting.

The Gathering Basket is far more than just a cookbook.  It comprises digital issues of recipes along with essays and embedded videos. Each release corresponds with the start of a new moon cycle, and a virtual discussion will run concurrently with each issue. The Indigenous chef organization I-Collective, which is assembling the project, plans a print publication for late 2022.