L. Sasha Gora

Culinary Claims explores the complex relationships between wild plants and introduced animals, Indigenous foodways, and Canadian regulations. Blending food studies with environmental history, the book examines how cuisines reflect social and political issues related to cultural representation, restaurants, and food sovereignty.

L. Sasha Gora chronicles the rise of Indigenous restaurants and their influence on Canadian food culture, engaging with questions about how shifts in appetite reflect broader shifts in imaginations of local environments and identities. Drawing on a diverse range of sources – from recipes and menus to artworks and television shows – the book discusses both historical and contemporary representations of Indigenous foodways and how they are changing amid the relocalization of food systems.

Culinary Claims tells a new story of settler colonialism and Indigenous resistance, emphasizing the critical role that restaurants play in Canada’s cultural landscape. It investigates how food shapes our understanding of place and the politics that underpin this relationship. Ultimately, the book asks, What insights can historians gain from restaurants – and their legacies – as reflections of Indigenous and settler negotiations over cultural claims to land?

Educator Information
Subjects: Business; History / Canadian History; History / Business & Economic History; Food Studies / Food in History; Indigenous Studies / Indigenous History

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Preface

Introduction: You Are Welcome
1. Agricultural Flagpoles
2. From Trains to Tundra
3. Restaurants and Representation
4. An Edible Exhibition
5. One Address, Three Restaurants
6. A Meal for a Chief
7. Culinary Resurgence
8. Seal Tartare
9. Where the Beaver and Buffalo Roam
10. Salmon and the F-Word
Conclusion: The North

Acknowledgements
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Additional Information
392 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 34 illustrations | Paperback