Native American cuisine comes of age in this elegant, contemporary collection that reinterprets and updates traditional Native recipes with modern, healthy twists. Andrew George Jr. was head chef for aboriginal foods at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver; his imaginative menus reflect the diverse new culinary landscape while being mindful of an ages-old reverence for the land and sea, reflecting the growing interest in a niche cuisine that is rapidly moving into the mainstream to become the "next big thing" among food trends. Andrew also works actively at making Native foods healthier and more nutritious, given that Native peoples suffer from diabetes at twice the rates of non-Natives; his recipes are lighter, less caloric, and include Asian touches, such as bison ribs with Thai spices, and a sushi roll with various cooked fish wrapped in nori. Other dishes include venison barley soup, wild berry crumble, seas asparagus salad, and buffalo tourtière.
Full of healthy, delicious, and thoroughly North American fare, Modern Native Feasts is the first Native American foods cookbook to go beyond the traditional and take a step into the twenty-first century.
Andrew George Jr. is a member of the Wet'suwet'en Nation in British Columbia. He participated on the first all-Native team at the Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt, Germany, and in 2012 was part of a group of chefs from twenty-five countries on a US State Department initiative called "Culinary Diplomacy: Promoting Cultural Understanding Through Food." His first book, A Feast for All Seasons, was published in 2010.