Telling Women's Lives

Farmer Jane Reader Response- Jess Jordan

Farmer Jane featured many impressive woman, but I was particularly impressed by Lois Ellen Frank and the way she created a new field of study based on her interests and experiences. She discovered a way to integrate her passion for food, photography and her appreciation for Native foods. I appreciated how much she supports local foods, with a food preference for local and seasonable foods that come from as close to her home as possible. However, I was most impressed by her leadership skills in starting the Red Mesa Cuisine to educate others about Native foods. I have never considered food to be a means of education, but it is such a powerful way to convey a meaning and history. For example, at a Red Mesa Cuisine event, Lois and other chefs served bison meat stew with bison from a member of the Intertribal Bison cooperative and also New Mexico Pueblo blue corn posole. Lois is bringing attention to Native foods and thereby Native people in America, which both do not often receive much attention. By demonstrating their quality and flavor, Lois can also demonstrate their cultural importance and make people care about them.

Furthermore, I was impressed with the way Lois trains her staff to be of “pure mind, body, spirit and essence so that we conscientiously feed people with a concern- with love like your grandmother would, and with the essence of sustainability.” I loved the way she talked about treating food with genuine concern and care for sustaining one another, because our treatment of food has now become completely removed from its source. We rarely think of the cow who supplied the meat for our hamburger and many of us turn a blind eye to the disgusting and inhumane practices of many large farms and food corporations. Lois Ellen Frank takes a different approach towards food and I appreciate her stance and her means of educating others through food.