Chími Nu'am: Native California Foodways for the Contemporary Kitchen

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Ayukîi

About Me

How to Use This Book

Equipment and Specialty Foods

Proteins

Fall

Pimnaníhkaanva

Acorn Guide

Rustic Acorn Bread

Blackberry Smoked Salmon Smörgåstårta

Acorn Pumpkin Muffins

Acorn Manzanita Waffles

Acorn Miso

Acorn Miso Soup with Tanoak Mushrooms

Acorn Miso Creamed Kale

Three Sisters Fall Salad

Squash Frybread

Elk Chili Beans

Stuffed Mini Pumpkins with Ground Venison Sausage and Currants

Apple Cider Brined Turkey with Apple Brandy Acorn Gravy

Acorn Crepes

Turkey and Wild Mushroom Crepes

Cajeta Apple Pie Crepes

Maple Cheesecake with Pine Nut and Acorn Crust

NDN Whoopie Pies

Winter

Íshyaav

The Acorn Maidens

Winter Preserving

Mussels and Mushrooms on Acorn Bread

Winter Squash with Bay Leaves

Winter Quail Stock

Quail and Acorn Dumpling Stew

Elk Cottage Pie

Rabbit and Dungeness Paella

Red Chile Rabbit Tamales

White Tepary Bean Soup with Ham Hock and Collards

Cataplana

Wild Boar Pozole

Deer Meat Stew and Grits

Coffee and Juniper Brined Venison

Acorn Hand Pies

Basic Acorn Pie Crust

Miso Smoked Salmon Chowder Hand Pies

Huckleberry Hand Pies

Hot Peppernut Cocoa with Mallow Root Marshmallows

California Galette

Buttermilk Chocolate Acorn Quick Bread

Spring

Xátikrupma

Spring Gathering Guide

Corine Pearce

Infusions

Decoctions

Compresses

Poultices

How to Dehydrate Nettles or Lamb's Quarters

Morel Preparation

How to Dehydrate Mushrooms and Morels

Tree Tip Syrups, Sugars, and Oils

Niçoise Salad with Pickled Sea Beans and Quail Eggs

NDN Lettuce and Popped Amaranth Salad with Lemon Pine Nut Vinaigrette

Spring Mushroom Stock

Cream of Woodland Mushroom Soup

Acorn Miso Balls and Dashi with Pacific Seaweed and Dried Mushrooms

Acorn Crackers with Edible Flowers and Wild Onion Dip and Acorn Hummus

Wildflower Spring Rolls

Peppernut Mole Chicken with Nettle Tortillas and Nettle Poblano Rice

Duck Egg Chilaquiles with Nettle Tortilla Chips

Wild Rice Gatherer's Bowl

Stinging Nettle Risotto with Cumin Coriander Lamb Chops and Acorn Squash with Burrata, Hazelnuts, and Barberries

Meadow Quiche

Acorn Focaccia with Wild Edibles

Pea Pancakes with Lemon Cream, Smoked Salmon, and Quail Eggs

Big Leaf Maple Blossom Fritters with Spruce Tip Syrup

Summer

Pimnáanih

Summer Spaghetti Sauce

Wild Meatballs

Summer Corn Stock

Blackberry Smoothie Bowl with Hazelnut Granola

Three Sisters Summer Salad

Quail "Chicken Salad" with Cherry Plums and Black Walnuts

Watermelon Salad with Yerba Buena

Greek Salad with Smoked Trout

Summer Grape Leaf Wraps

Huckleberry Gazpacho with Smoked Salmon

Pine Pollen Cacio e Pepe

Blackberry Brined Smoked Salmon

Blackberry Braised Venison Tacos

Elk Medallions with Acorn Miso Rub

Acorn Milk Freezer Pops

Acorn Milk and Chia Pops with Salmonberry Chamoy

Rose-Ade and Elderflower Freezer Pops

Blackberry "Chiascake" Freezer Pops

Zucchini Acorn Bread with Black Walnuts and Chocolate Chips

Blackberry Curd and Maple Angel Food Cake

Blackberry Pie with Acorn Crust

Acknowledgments

Index

About the Author

Sara Calvosa Olson (Karuk) is a food writer and editor living in the Bay Area with her husband and two teenage sons. Her work dwells at the intersection of storytelling, Indigenous food systems, security, sovereignty, reconnection, and recipe development. Her writing has appeared in News from Native California and Edible Shasta-Butte. Visit her website at akihsara.com, and follow her on Instagram at @thefrybreadriot. She lives in Mill Valley, California, which is the unceded ancestral homeland of the Coast Miwok.

Finalist for the 2023 Glenn Goldman Award for Cooking, Chosen by the California Booksellers Alliance

"This cookbook designed to uplift Indigenous California foods will delight foragers, adventurous home cooks, and those looking to connect with Native roots. It's a valuable addition to library shelves that will connect Native and non-Native Americans to the earth and its abundant gift of ingredients." --Library Journal

"With Chími Nu'am, Olson looks to encourage people to start thinking about a decolonized diet, connecting to the land and native ingredients prior to European colonization [... and] aims to make Indigenous ingredients and traditional Karuk recipes accessible to a whole range of home cooks." --Nina Friend, BBC World's Table

"Chími Nu'am is serious about taking a holistic view of reintegrating the healthfulness of traditional diets into modern lives, benefiting both personal well-being and the greater good." --Naomi Tomky, Atlas Obscura

"Calvosa Olson has written a book that will speak to multiple audiences. But whether she's guiding Indigenous readers to embrace more of their cultural foods or making recommendations for non-Indigenous readers interested in decolonizing their diets in an ethical way (hint: it's about reciprocity), her voice and philosophy come through clearly on the page." --Twilight Greenaway, Civil Eats

"To say that Chími Nu'am is just a cookbook is inaccurate. What took Calvosa Olson more than two years to write and publish is an expression of her life and an act of stewardship for the earth. [...] The author was raised to believe that if you take care of the land, the land will take care of you." --Prism

"Calvosa Olson invites readers to forage for and become more attuned to Indigenous and seasonal ingredients--nurturing a deeper connection to place and enhancing one's role as an environmental steward." --Uprooted

"Connecting with nature is an approach to cooking that is often overlooked--but not for Sara Calvosa Olson. A native Californian raised by a Karuk mother, she is leading people on a path to decolonize their diets, one cup of manzanita flour at a time." --KCRW Good Food

"Connection to people and planet is central to both Calvosa Olson's personal approach to food as well as the message of Chími Nu'am." --Rachel Askinasi, The Messenger

"Besides being a creative, accessible cookbook, Calvosa Olson's work is a call for stewardship of the environment and an introduction to some local foods that have long been part of Native diets. It's a terrific resource for foragers, teachers, libraries, classrooms, cooks, and anyone looking to learn more about the foodways of California's Indigenous peoples." --Edible East Bay

"[M]ore than 70 recipes arranged by season that require one to wait for and find ingredients in the places they thrive. Acknowledging, 'we are all colonized, ' it's also a forgiving book in terms of exactitude and substitution. [Olson] also encourages readers to consider ways to engage mindfully with Indigenous culture and communities ('Are there Native elders in your community that could benefit from your labor first?'), and keep stewardship of natural resources in mind, rather than simply scooping up ingredients for a recipe." --North Coast Journal

More than seventy delectable recipes that bring California's Indigenous cuisines into kitchens today.

Finalist for the 2023 Glenn Goldman Award for Cooking, Chosen by the California Booksellers Alliance

In this sumptuous cookbook, Sara Calvosa Olson (Karuk) reimagines some of the oldest foods in California for home cooks today. Meaning "Let's eat!" in the Karuk language, Chími Nu'am shares the author's delicious and inventive takes on Native food styles from across California. Over seventy seasonal recipes centered on a rich array of Indigenous ingredients follow the year from Fall (elk chili beans, acorn crepes) to Winter (wild boar pozole, huckleberry hand pies) to Spring (wildflower spring rolls, peppernut mole chicken) to Summer (blackberry braised smoked salmon, acorn milk freezer pops). Special sections offer guidance on acorn preparation, traditional uses of proteins, and mindful ingredient sourcing.

Calvosa Olson has spent many years connecting her family's foodways with a growing community, and these recipes, techniques, and insights invite everyone to Calvosa Olson's table. Designed as an accessible entry for people beginning their journey toward a decolonized diet, Chími Nu'am welcomes readers in with Calvosa Olson's politically attuned and irresistibly funny writing. With more than 100 photographs, this cookbook is a culinary gift that will add warmth and mouthwatering aromas to any kitchen.

Review Citations:

• Library Journal 08/01/2023 pg. 103 (EAN 9781597146159, Hardcover)