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

by Sara Calvosa Olson

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.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Indigenous

371 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 5, 2023

Reviews

[Ambur Taft · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this is not a cookbook I would add to my collection, nor would I repeatedly use many of the recipes, it is a lovely cookbook. I enjoyed reading about the collection of native to California recipes. I also appreciate the author speaking about foraging/hunting, and not carrying these acts out on native land without permission. Spring was my favorite section, I love to see others take on infusions & poultices.

[Lea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please seek out Native Californian reviews.
This is a collection of Native CA foodways recipes. The photographs are gorgeous. They’re not traditional recipes, but ways to use traditional foods in contemporary ways. The introduction to the book was well thought out, anti-colonizer/settler, a lot of activism throughout. I enjoyed reading the author’s intro to each season and recipe. She felt like a friend sharing her stories.
The cookbook is well thought out and the author acknowledges it’s not for everyone and every recipe won’t be accessible but does discuss ways to use what may be available to you.

[Charles Eldridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high expectations that were not met to my satisfaction. I eagerly looked forward to learning about the various food-ways of California tribes and now to take the history and present it in modern platings. Besides copious amounts of acorn flour in dishes, I felt that way too many recipes didn’t have a fully expressed connection to California and the cuisine of the original inhabitants. There were Italian dishes (explained by the author saying she has Italian heritage too) and dishes from around the world. I felt like I learned too little about the native Californian foodways. The writing itself was casual and seemed better suited to a blog post than a cookbook that portends to teach the reader history and gastronomy. Stylistically the photographs were gorgeous but the font and coloring choices of the other pages were bland. I am glad this cookbook exists and there’s a few recipes that I’m intrigued by, but so much of it seemed disconnected from educated and presented what was intended.

[Aviva · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book at the California State Indian Museum in Sacramento, which I highly recommend!

I used to aspire to cook like Sara Calvosa Olson, until necessity forced me into spending all my time making basic, boring foods to get through the week. Unfortunately, I had to give up my dreams of ethically foraged fiddlehead tip salads and hand-ground acorn bread, at least for now. However, I really loved the photographs, the teachings, and the ideas so much that I actually read it all the way through. I photographed two recipes (the nettle risotto dinner and the pea pancakes) and gave the book away to someone who I thought might get more use out of it.

[Robert Muller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I probably won't be doing much actual cooking from this cookbook, too hard to find the ingredients or the time, but it's a joy just as a piece of art, both the pictures and the recipes. The surrounding text professes a philosophy of living that would benefit the world if enough people could undertake it. My suspicion is that we've come too far to adopt all but the general principles of caring for our community, whatever community that might be, and not taking too much and reciprocating to the community. We are no longer living in a world in which the gods help those who help themselves (the moral of Aesop's Hercules and the Wagoner, from a world and gods long gone).

[Kathy Piselli · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title might be confusing, but Olson herself states "This is a compilation of my own recipes". It's an annotated compilation, explaining something about the ingredients and methods. The background content was most useful to me: how to gather, to watch out for exploitative foragers, the differences in seasons. It is a California book, for all some of the recipes are "re-colonized". I agree with her comments about Italian food. Italians historically did a lot of gathering. They had to.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enlightening and enjoyable read. Very few recipes I will actually try (unless acorn flour becomes readily available) but I appreciate the history and importance behind them. Like the author’s breezy, friendly approach to potentially heavy concept of a decolonized diet. She will be speaking at my library next week.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this quite interesting but not particularly practical, at least not for me. I like how its broken down by season, featuring foods used by indigenous peoples for each season.
I would like to learn how to process acorns, I have seen a demo of it at an event.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

an interesting read as a native new to California. I hope to try out some of the recipes soon.