Published by the Culinaria series at the University of Toronto Press, Culinary Claims: Indigenous Restaurant Politics in Canada is now available for pre-order.
Culinary Claims explores the complex relationships between wild plants and introduced animals, between Indigenous foodways and Canadian regulations. Blending food studies with environmental history, it examines how cuisines reflect social and political issues related to cultural representation, restaurants, and food sovereignty. The book 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—it 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?