Chef Nephi Craig (Apache/Navajo), founder of the Native American Culinary Association, conducts a traditional Native American cooking demonstration in the Danforth University Center Nov. 3. Craig’s presentation, “Maatibi. Imokwayli. Ittanahli. Hunt. Fish. Gather,” centered on Native American foods and their resurgence in American cooking culture. Craig, trained in the French classical style of cooking, was working at a five-star restaurant when he realized he wanted to honor his heritage through his culinary talent. Now he cooks and travels the country promoting his dream: to restore and reinvent the largely forgotten cuisine of his forebears.
America’s “green” movement is essentially a return to indigenous foods, he told the crowd. “I always say, ‘going green is going Native,’ ” Craig said.