American Indian Cooking Before 1500 (Exploring History Through Simple Recipes)

Grade 4-9-This nicely designed book attempts to provide basic information about the food, diet, and customs of various Native American peoples. It opens with a simple, straightforward overview of what Native peoples ate before 1500, explaining regional differences based upon climate and gradual changes in diet as trade routes developed. This general introduction is followed by eight brief chapters, each of which is devoted to a geographical region: the people who lived there, their lifestyles, climatic conditions, housing, food storage, and sometimes utensils or customs. Each chapter includes one recipe based upon the foods historically consumed by the area's indigenous populations, but it has been modernized and simplified for young cooks. There does not always seem to be a direct link between the recipe and the informational section. For example, the section on the Great Plains does not even mention pemmican or explain why that specific recipe is included. The book contains small color photographs, reproductions, and one map with no scale. Beverly Cox's Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking (Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 1991) is thoroughly researched and has over 100 recipes. Students doing short reports on Native Americans and who need to find a recipe might find Gunderson's volume useful, but, overall, it attempts to do too much and its broad-stroke approach gives readers the idea that Native peoples within each of the geographic regions were all alike.
Dona J. Helmer, College Gate School Library, Anchorage, AK
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.