SURVIVAL FOOD: NORTHWOODS STORIES OF A MENOMINEE COOK by Thomas Pecore Weso is available from Wisconsin Historical Society Press now and elsewhere Nov. 7, 2023. The Sioux Chef says about it: “I have had the great pleasure of visiting and cooking with friends and community from the Menominee Indian Reservation, and the place, and those people, have touched me deeply. As Thomas’s book attests, the Menominee people are acutely attached to their land—a land that feels pure and sacred—as well as their foodways. This book is not only about survival food, but about the singular beauty, creativity, and fortitude that comes out of that survival.”—Chef Sean Sherman, author of The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen and founder of North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems.
In these coming-of-age tales set on the Menominee Indian Reservation of the 1980s and 1990s, Thomas Pecore Weso explores the interrelated nature of meals and memories. As he puts it, “I cannot separate foods from the moments in my life when I first tasted them.” Weso’s stories recall the foods that influenced his youth in northern Wisconsin: subsistence meals from hunted, fished, and gathered sources; the culinary traditions of the German, Polish, and Swedish settler descendants in the area; and the commodity foods distributed by the government—like canned pork, dried beans, and powdered eggs—that made up the bulk of his family’s pantry. His mom called this “survival food.” These stories from the author’s teen and tween years— some serious, some laugh-out-loud funny—will take readers from Catholic schoolyards to Native foot trails to North Woods bowling alleys, while providing Weso’s perspective on the political currents of the era. The book also contains dozens of recipes, from turtle soup and gray squirrel stew to twice-baked cheesy potatoes. This follow-up to Weso’s Good Seeds: A Menominee Indian Food Memoir is a hybrid of modern foodways, Indigenous history, and creative nonfiction from a singular storyteller.
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Thomas Pecore Weso (1953–2023) was an author, educator, artist, and enrolled member of the Menominee Indian Nation of Wisconsin. His book Good Seeds: A Menominee Indian Food Memoir, published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press in 2016, was reviewed widely and won a national Gourmand Award. His second memoir is Survival Food: North Woods Stories by a Menominee Cook (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2023). He also wrote many articles and personal essays, a biography of Langston Hughes with coauthor Denise Low, and the children’s book Native American Stories for Kids (Rockridge Press, 2022, distributed by Simon & Schuster), which was named a 2023 Kansas Notable Book. Weso was an alumnus of Haskell Indian Nations University and the University of Kansas, where he earned a master’s degree in Indigenous studies. He died in Sonoma County, California, on July 14, 2023.https://www.amazon.com/dp/1638070628
Native American Stories for Kids from Rockridge Press 2022, 9781638070627 Thanks Kevin Robinson for this kind review of the book: “The depth, variety, richness, and fun of Tom Weso’s collection of children’s stories will not only grab and entertain your kids, grans, etc., the stories will move and enlighten adults too! I loved learning more about each tribe and nation after each traditional tale was lovingly shared. Using “animal” or “lodge fire” stories to teach life lessons to kids is one of our planet’s most powerful educational tools; and, as a retired teacher, I’m always looking for more of these rare treasures for the Munchkins in my life! (I was introduced to Native American author Tom Weso when I bought a copy of his wonderful memoir/recipe book: Good Seeds…another 5-Star read!)”
Contact for information at tomwesoart [at] gmail.
- Nov. 12, 2023, Tribute to Tom Weso by Jane Ciabattari and Denise Low, 7 pm Paul Mahder Gallery, Healdsburg, CA
- Dec. 6, 2023, Zoom presentation by Denise Low Madison Public Library
- History for the Holidays, Wisconsin Historical Society Press, Tom Weso and Kristin Gilpatrick
- Nov. 2021, Book Bites, Tom Weso, WHSP.
Good sales are keeping Good Seeds (2016) in print! Good Seeds: A Menominee Indian Food Memoir, from Wisconsin Historical Society Press, is $19.95 hardback, ISBN 978-0-87020-771-6. Contact the press marketing manager at 608-264-6465 or whspress@wisconsinhistory.org for media, review copies. Here is a link to Wisconsin Public Radio program, 48 min. and here is a review in the Minneapolis Star Tribune by Pamela Miller. Good Seeds is a national winner of The Gourmand Award in the category of “Historical Recipes.” It is an international finalist.
Good Seeds is selected as one of 3 Midwest Connections Picks, by Midwest Independent Booksellers, Nov., 2016
Corn Bread recipe demonstration from Good Seeds on YouTube and on Facebook –
Best of the Fall Cook Books, The Millers Tale July 21, 2016 . Nicola Miller: “‘As Weso grew up, his uncles taught him to hunt bear, deer, squirrels, raccoons, and even skunks for the daily larder:’ These recollections are what I loved most because they are filled with love and warmth, with respect for heritage and pride. He remembers foods served at the Menominee fair and the excitement of “sugar bush,” maple sugar gatherings that included dances as well as hard work. There’s memories of wild rice harvesting in the small boats and a fascinating account of how the wild rice plants react and adapt to their location. If you are interested in agri-ecology and want to learn how we as humans can achieve a less damaging relationship with our environment, Weso’s book is for you.”
The Reading Wolf blog: This is such a great book! I enjoyed learning about the history of the land and the tribe. I haven’t tried any of the recipes yet, but I’m sure i will soon, as they seem easy enough to follow. This book takes you on a journey and immerses you in a beautiful culture and lifestyle. So many memories and beautiful tales of growing up. You really get a feel for the author as he recounts his life and immerses you chapter by chapter into his life. This book is beautiful inside and out and I loved reading it. Thank you librarything for sending me this book in exchange for my honest review.
Anna Maria Polidori, Book Reviews: Every chapter Weso remembers some anecdotes of his past. It can be his beautiful moments spent in the family with his granny, it can be the hunting of the bear, or fishing, – better a big fish than not a small one, he writes at some point because the family big and so… At the end of every chapter you will find delicious recipes that you are more than invited of trying for preparing delicious meals. A chapter I loved the one of maple syrup. I adore maple syrup! I drink it with water it’s the only way I use it I confess but I love also to explore the most diversified utilization in the American culture. From Books blog!
TV appearance in Madison, WI at NBC15 Madison Tom Weso reflected on how it is more than a food memoir. Discover the indigenous wild edibles that have impacted more than just the Menominee by watching the full interview, and by finding Good Seeds at your favorite book retailer http://bit.ly/2bShx9U
See “Good Seeds in the News” for more audio files and media links.
More praise for Good Seeds:
“In Tom Weso’s youth, a meal for his Menominee family took an entire year to plan. Eating with the seasons, you get wild game, fish, maple, berries, squash, and other delectables. But you get them only once a year. It is this sustaining way of life that Weso narrates for us in Good Seeds. These stories and recipes make us appreciate the past, make us long for woods and waters today, and make us just plain hungry.” —Heid E. Erdrich, author of Original Local: Indigenous Foods, Stories, and Recipes from the Upper Midwest
“Weso tells his tale of Menominee history that began with his family in a house that had been an Indian service jail. There is necessary information here—diesel fuel gels at 40 below. Pines burst at 20 below. The whole Wisconsin winter he knew begins to thaw in Good Seeds. Weso says his grandmother used to start fire each morning. I want to say, it is Weso who starts fire, but the fire he builds is for the written word. It is language that sparks this work to life.” —Diane Glancy, poet, playwright, and author of Pushing the Bear: After the Trail of Tears
To the Menominee Indian, the “good seeds” of life are the manomin, or wild rice, that also gives the tribe its name. In this unique food memoir, tribal member Thomas Pecore Weso takes readers on a cook’s journey through Wisconsin’s northern woods. With a rare perspective as a Native American anthropologist and artist, Weso mixes a poignant personal story with the seeds of Menominee cooking traditions. He tells stories that connect each food—beaver, trout, blackberry, wild rice, maple sugar, partridge—with colorful individuals who taught him indigenous values. Weso’s grandfather Moon was a medicine man, his morning prayers the foundation for all the day’s meals. His grandmother Jennie “made fire” each morning in a wood-burning stove and oversaw huge breakfasts of wild game, fish, and fruit pies. His uncles taught him to hunt bear, deer, squirrels, raccoons, and even skunks for the daily larder. Along with authentic family recipes, Weso recalls favorite foods served at the Menominee fair and at local diners, and shares stories about reservation life in the mid-twentieth century, when many elders practiced the old ways. According to Weso, “People talk about the good old days, when things were simpler. But the old life was not simple. People had to order their day according to what nature was doing, not human desires. If it was the season to pick cranberries, my grandmother went out to the bogs and picked cranberries. She could not wait for a warm day. She had to get out when the cranberries were ripe. The land had its ceremonies, unfolding through the seasons, and people followed them.”
Thomas Weso (1953-2023) 