Local woman’s Cherokee heritage honored in historic cookbooks

Local legend Barbara White -- of Barb’s Burgers fame – has been able to keep a part of her Cherokee heritage alive, with the help of historic cookbook writer Lurlene Bowden’s help.

Bowden’s newest pair of cookbooks, the Tale of Tears: Red, White & Black and Tale of Tears Too: Spirit, Soul & Shadow.

Both books feature the history of White’s family, descended from the native Cherokee people and their historic family recipes, handed down from generation to generation.

“There’s a lot of stuff that’s been lost, and (the cookbooks are) a very positive way to keep our legacy alive,” White said. “Important things about living off the land, but still living in harmony with nature. What’s going to happen when all this history is gone? I don’t want to see that happen – especially with the way the world’s going today.”

Bowden said the pair of books delve into White’s family history and how her family was involved with the Trails of Tears, the march that displaced some 17,000 Cherokee people from their lands in Georgia to “Indian Territory” the U.S. government had established in Oklahoma.

“Under orders from Pres. Andrew Jackson, the U.S. Army began enforcement of the Removal Act,” the Cherokee Nation’s website cherokee.org states. “The Cherokee were rounded up in the summer of 1838 and loaded onto boats that traveled the Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi and Arkansas rivers into Indian Territory. Many were held in prison camps awaiting their fate.

“An estimated 4,000 died from hungers, exposure and disease. The journey became a cultural memory as the “trail where they cried” for the Cherokees and other removed tribes. Today it is widely remembered by the general public as the ‘Trail of Tears.’ The Oklahoma chapter of the Trail of Tears Association has begun the task of marking the graves of Trail survivors with bronze memorials.”

Longtime writer and artist Bowden compiled both books; designed and illustrated all the original artworks, as she’d done in all her historic cookbooks.

“When I first started working with Barb and her family, there was so much great information and history I wanted to cover,” Bowden said. “I had more than 300 pages in the first book alone, but for binding purposes, my books have to cut off at 220 pages. I didn’t want to cut any of Barb’s historic photographs or recipes and certainly didn’t want to leave out any of my artworks – so we just expanded it into two books. I learned so much more working on these books. It’s really an honor to have been able to preserve these stories and these recipes.”

Bowden said Barb’s daughter Vicki assisted with much of the research into both books. Each book’s title denotes the historical significance of the recipes contained therein. The first book, ToT: Red, White & Black features examples of how each culture – red, white and black – impacted the times. The second book, ToT: Spirit, Soul & Shadow showcases the relationship the Cherokee had with nature and the Earth.

“Everything on Earth has a spirit, soul or shadow,” White quoted Chief Sitting Bull. “It is believed all people can live in peace with all life forms on the planet, if we simply remember to honor their spirits, souls and shadows.”

Both cookbooks include recipes for both food and medicines, including salads, soups and teas made from dandelions, nettle, dock, red clover, chick weed and sorrel; crawfish dressing and buffalo roast; opossum chili; bean bread; marinades for woodcock, pheasant, snipe and blackbird; even how to cook badger. The books also include tips on how to live off the land and cooking in general.

“The trick to cooking meat is simple,” White shared. “First don’t add anything – no seasoning, nothing. You brown it and then boil it. That makes it so tender.”

White also pointed many of the recipes she learned to cook with didn’t include measurements of any kind.

“There were no measuring cups back then and I don’t measure a thing to this day,” she said with a laugh. “It was a pinch of this or a handful of that – that makes it tricky to recreate a dish exactly how Grand mama used to make, especially if her hands were much different in size than other family members’ hands.”

Both Tale of Tears cookbooks are available for sale on Bowden’s website, heatinguphistory.com, and at her booth at the Jewitt flea market, every second weekend of the month in Jewett.

Bowden will also hold a book signing, featuring her newest books, from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6 at the Cherokee County Heritage Center, 208 Henderson St., just off the square in downtown Rusk.