Jul 11, 2017
Lois Ellen Frank is a chef, author, Native foods historian,
photographer and James Beard Award winner for her book Foods of the
Southwest Indian Nations.
Lois lives in Santa Fe and works with the Native community by
focusing on the importance of traditional foods in their culture.
Through her company, Red Mesa Cuisine, Lois offers spectacular
dinners and cooking classes but also lessons in food history,
particularly as it relates to the Native Americans. Lois is really
quite grounded and a very wise person and it becomes obvious that
she puts a lot of love, thoughtfulness and wisdom into her
cooking.
In this conversation, we talk about her childhood growing up on the
east coast and how, at an early age, she was able to make money
through her love of food and how her mother was so influential in
fostering the idea that if Lois could dream it up, she could
accomplish it.
We talk about how she was temporarily dissuaded in pursuing the
culinary arts (because she was female and there was no such thing
as "Native" food) so she went on to become an accomplished food
photographer. But she found herself surrounded by foods that she
was ethically opposed to until a comment by a mentor changed the
trajectory of her life.
* About Beth Whitman
Beth is known as a women's travel expert with nearly 30 years of
travel behind her. She's a public speaker, the founder of
WanderlustAndLipstick.com and regularly leads tours to
off-the-beaten path destinations around the globe through her
company, WanderTours.