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Chef Nephi Craig shows off ‘real’ Native food

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Thanksgiving is a holiday defined by food. Even in the era of COVID, families find safe ways to gather around the table to enjoy a meal and recount what they are thankful for.

To that end, the Octavia Fellin Public Library hosted an interactive workshop with Chef Nephi Craig on Nov. 23. Craig spoke about Indigenous Food Sovereignty and prepared a dish on-line for viewers.

Craig, from the Fort River Apache Reservation near Whiteriver, Ariz., founded the Native American Culinary Association after graduating from culinary school in 2000. NACA is dedicated to the research, refinement, and development of Native American cuisine.

The workshop was a chance for viewers to see Indigenous food in a new way, Craig said.

“In my pathway as a Native chef when I first started cooking, one of the first things I began to question was ‘Is there such a thing as Native American cuisine?’” Craig said, recounting how he had been around food a lot growing up on the Fort River Apache Reservation, as well as the Navajo Nation.

When he went to cooking school, his class was taught world history and the cuisines that go along with it. But Craig noted there was little to no mention of any Indigenous cuisines of North America, aside from a number of foods from Mexico.

“We were just categorized in a broad and minimal way at the same time,” Craig said.

This feeling hit its peak when he was attending cooking school and asked one of his instructors if they knew of any particular Indigenous culinary arts. The answer he got stuck with him.

“My instructor said, ‘I know you make frybread. You boil a lot of stews,’” Craig said. “When I heard that from my chef and instructor, I felt it was kind of a dismissive take on who we are as Native peoples. Sure, a lot of tribes make frybread and make stews, but there is a vast amount of information about culinary science, cultural information, linguistics, and medicine.

“When I was 18 years old, I took that as a message I shouldn’t bring this up because it made me feel embarrassed when we were studying the cuisines of Europe and Asia, which have these grand histories,” Craig said.

This spurred Craig to do his research and learn about Native foods, and in turn show people he had met throughout his career that Indigenous cuisine can be more than the foods seen at booths across various reservations and that a knowledgeable chef can come from those regions as well.

After speaking about his career, Craig demonstrated his knowledge and experience by preparing a traditional dish that includes corn, zucchini, and pinto beans. He shared some of the techniques he used to prepare the dish and explained the best way to use various tools to make the most out of cooking.

He reaffirmed his message of wanting viewers to see Indigenous foods in a new way.

“As we approach Thanksgiving, I encourage everyone to look at food differently, because the United States has been cooking Indigenous foods since its inception,” Craig said. “It was Indigenous food ways, agricultural techniques, and traditional ecological knowledge that allowed the United States to sustain itself.”

To view the recording of Chef Nephi Craig’s presentation and cooking, visit https://www.facebook.com/galluplibrary/.

By Cody Begaye
Sun Correspondent