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.
