New Blue Mountain Shadows explores food

When it comes to “What’s Cookin’?” both necessity and available ingredients have always dictated the end results of human consumption.  The new winter issue of Blue Mountain Shadows explores cultural food patterns which were impacted by both the culture and geography of the Four Corners area.
From 650 AD when the Basketmakers added beans to their core diet of squash and corn, to the 90’s Bluff Sunbonnet Café menu, food choices have been in flux and always reflective of location, economics, and raw materials.
Topics included in Volume 58 include articles on Anasazi Beans, Navajo and Ute Foods and customs, Pioneer and Cowboy Grub, as well as family food traditions.
Editor Heather Young notes that this issue “could have evolved into just another cookbook to collect dust,” but instead uncovered “the creativity of man in his fight for survival in an unforgiving landscape.”
Poetry, interviews, a book review, and articles were contributed by Joy Harjo, Winston Hurst, Robert McPherson, Finley Bayles, Dr. Jeffrey Bentley, Will Evans, Charlotte J. Frisbie, Priscilla Parish, Mary Cokenour, Albert R. Lyman, Norma Perkins Young, Janet Wilcox, Gary Shumway, and Jim Keyes.
Magazines can be purchased at Clarks Market, San Juan Pharmacy, Blanding Visitors Center, Twin Rocks, The San Juan Record, and other county locations. In Cortez and Moab, local bookstores sell Blue Mountain Shadows.