Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, February 23, 2019

7

THE WORLD AROUND US

Mountain Views-News Saturday, February 23, 2019 


CHRISTOPHER Nyerges

COOKING THE NATIVE WAY, 

a New Book by Heyday publishing.

[Nyerges is the author of “Foraging California,” “Extreme Simplicity,” “The Self-
Reliant Home,” and other books. For information on his books and classes, go to 
www.SchoolofSelf-reliance.com.]

We’ve all heard about how the indigenous people of Southern California lived off the land with a 
diverse diet, yet modern Americans seem to persist with the myth that the diet of the past was a 
survival diet of bland acorns and squirrels. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Undoubtedly, some native peoples of the past went hungry during times of drought. After all, 
“store” was a verb, not a noun. Yet, as the indigenous people have begun to tell their own stories, a 
fuller picture emerges of a diverse and healthful diet that could have been the envy of contemporary 
people just about anywhere else.

“Cooking the Native Way: Chia Café Collective” boasts 10 authors: Barbara Drake, Daniel McCarthy, 
Deborah Small, Leslie Mouriquand, Cindi Alvitre, Craig Torres, Abe Sanchez, Lorene Sisquoc, 
Heidi Lucero, and Tima Lotah Link, all of whom are long-time educators in Native American food, 
traditions, beliefs, and anthropology. The full-color book is beautifully done, and if one were to 
buy it only for the pictures, you’d not be disappointed.

“Cooking the Native Way” is ostensibly a cookbook of native foods such as the acorn, cactus, mesquite, 
chia, yucca, nettles, and others. But it is so much more!

The authors begin by sharing their story of how their teaching about native foods, and compiling 
recipes, evolved into the Chia Café Collective organization. You get an introduction to the people 
and the places where they teach, and why it’s important to preserve this heritage.

The Mother Earth Clan (Drake, Sisquoc, and Alvitre) share with the reader the clan rules to live by, 
which are guidelines for cultural survival and sustainability. For example, all things are sacred and 
all things are alive. Respect your elders by listening and learning. Always be truthful. Always give 
before you take. What you do will come back to you, good or bad.

The photos are fantastic, and uplifting to see. The section on Places introduces the reader to all the 
Southern California locations where the authors teach, with photos of their workshops.

The heart of the book is the Recipes section, beginning on page 60. You learn about the key plants 
used by native peoples, how to prepare them into delicious dishes, and where to purchase them. 
Some are commonly foraged in the wild. The reader is also given the details of why these traditional 
foods are so good nutritionally. 

Since acorns are perhaps the single stereotypical food of native California, we are treated to everything 
we need to know about the acorns, such as how to remove the tannic acid, how to store them, 
the remarkable nutritional content, and how to turn the acorn flour into some amazingly delicious 
breads, cookies, and dumplings. 

A chapter on the popular chia seed explains the history of this seed in the native diet, and how to 
collect, and process it into different dishes. Perhaps not widely known is that the commonly available 
chia seed (from Trader Joes, for example) is not the chia used in the past. The native chia, 
sometimes called golden chia, is Salvia columbariae, whereas the commercially-available chia is 
Salvia hispanica. The nutritional values of each is very similar, however.

In the section on prickly pear cactus, you learn how to select the nopales or cactus pads, how to 
clean them, and how to turn them into a variety of tasty dishes. Details are also given for processing 
the cactus fruits, which are the closest thing to watermelon you’re going to find in the wild.

This is a refreshing book that is enjoyable to read, a pleasure to look at, and full of tried and tested 
recipes. The philosophy throughout is reminiscent of other recent books that have attempted to record 
the diversity and beauty of native foods, such as “Ethnobotany Project: Contemporary Uses of 
Native Plants,” (by Blurb.com) which is a collaboration of nearly 30 authors, including the authors 
of “Cooking the Native Way.” Another excellent book in this vein is “Enough for All: Foods of My 
Dry Creek Pomo and Bodega Miwuk People” by Kathleen Rose Smith, also by Heyday books. 

“Cooking the Native Way: Chia Café Collective” was published in 2018 by Heyday books in Berkeley. 
It’s an 8 . by 11 format, 161 pages.


Read us online at: 

www.mtnviewsnews.com


OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder

IS TIME A FRIEND 
OR AN ENEMY? 

The Gracious Mistress of 
the Parsonage and I were 
locked in a hopeless Mexican 
standoff. She was effectively arguing her 
side of the issue and I was, well, let's say I was 
not agreeing. I will not say who won, just that 
it wasn't me.

She then looked at me, put both hands on her 
hips and said, "Time will tell that I'm right."

I cannot wait. The problem is, time is never on 
my side. I simply do not know what it is about 
time, but it never does me any favors. Always, 
and I mean always, time proves my wife was 
right. I hate it.

I thought it was supposed to be "Father Time" 
we are dealing with. If it is, he certainly does not 
have the male side of the issue in good grips. 
Why has time always proven my wife right? Perhaps 
Mother Nature has so bullied Father Time 
that he always takes up the side of my wife.

The past week I have been thinking about this 
aspect of life; time. It seems that for the most 
part, we have put a lot of pressure upon time. 
For example, my wife keeps reminding me that 
time heals all wounds. If it was not for time I 
would have no wounds, I retorted.

I got in trouble just this past week because I was 
running out of time. I had to get across town for 
an appointment and believe me, time was not 
on my side. It would have been nice if I could 
just sit down with Father Time and negotiate a 
little bit. Would it be that hard for him to press 
the pause button and suspend time in order for 
me to catch up? Why is it so important that time 
keeps marching on? Why can’t it, at least on the 
weekends, just take a slow stroll down memory 
lane?

Often I look at my watch to determine if I have 
enough time to do a certain project. Time has 
become an austere taskmaster, refusing to give 
up one second.

Think with me a little bit. Wouldn't it be nice 
to have every week just one "do over" moment? 
How hard would that be? Father Time insists on 
perfection always. He does not allow for screw-
ups, which is rather pressing for me. If I could 
just have one 15-minute period during the week 
that I could do over, I might be able to catch up 
a little.

He wants me to be "on time" every time. When 
it is 2:00 PM, it is only 2:00 PM for one second, 
that is all. I believe there is an error here somewhere. 
If time is so valuable, why can't I enjoy 
2:00 PM for say, 15 minutes? But no, by the time 
I acknowledge that it is 2:00 PM Father Time is 
tapping his finger on his watch and saying, "Let's 
keep moving because time waits for no man."

At the very center of my life, and everybody 
else's as well, is the infamous clock representing 
time. And what a harsh, demanding element 
this invention has become. Who invented that 
clock in the first place? Why was it not good 
enough just to look at the sun and guess what 
time of day it was? If it was dark, it was time to 
go to sleep. If the sun was up and it was light 
outside, it was time to get up.

Oh, how I miss those good old days.

But no, Father Time tricked somebody into inventing 
a device that keeps time. Or, so Father 
Time convinced the unsuspecting inventor.

The joke is on us who wear watches. No watch I 
have ever owned has ever kept time. All it does 
is show me that time is passing and I am late 
for an appointment. Where is that inventor that 
can invent some mechanism or some technology 
that can actually keep time? I would be the 
first one to buy such a contraption.

Why can't Bill Gates come out of retirement and 
do something useful for humanity and invent 
the technology that actually keeps time. I would 
settle for half-hour increments. I could live with 
that.

For many years now, time has not been on my 
side and neither has it been involved in the 
healing of any of my many wounds. Then never, 
contrary to what my wife says, has time ever 
told me anything. It just keeps on ticking while 
giving me a licking.

I am older, but certainly, I am not any wiser. 
And I blame Father Time. He has not given me 
enough time to learn everything that I need to 
know. Every day it seems I am always running 
out of time. And I cannot believe it is my fault.

Time marches on and I need to make the best of 
it as best I can.

The apostle Paul understood the urgency of this 
matter we call time. He writes in his epistle, "For 
he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, 
and in the day of salvation have I succoured 
thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, 
now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2 
KJV).

The only time we really have is now. I never 
have a "now" to do over so I need to make time 
my friend and not my enemy.


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com