Chef Lois Ellen Frank, Ph.D, is a Native food historian, cookbook author and educator based in Santa Fe who runs Red Mesa Cuisine with Chef Walter Whitewater. Her cookbook Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations won a James Beard Award in 2003. Frank and Whitewater’s latest cookbook, Seed to Plate, Soil to Sky, was released earlier this year and features plant-based recipes using Native American ingredients. Frank joins “Conversations Different” to discuss the Native American food movement and the inspiration behind her new cookbook, which is broken into eight chapters based on “The Magic Eight” ingredients. She highlights the mission she shares with Whitewater to bring Native American cuisine into every kitchen and educate people to eat healthy. Frank also brings up the contributions that Native people made to the food we eat every day, and the impact Native ingredients have had in some of the world’s most popular cuisines.

Find Seed to Plate, Soil to Sky on the Red Mesa Cuisine website.