"Turtle Island" by Sean Sherman; Kate Nelson; Kristin Donnelly" is a great cookbook with added history and context!

I was eager to read this book, and as I anticipated, it has been an absolute delight! I thoroughly enjoy books that explore history, food and personal journeys, and Turtle Island combines all these elements.
Sean Sherman embarks on a journey to recover and preserve the culinary wisdom of Indigenous Peoples across North America. Through his work he sheds a light on the deep connection that Native Americans have with the land and the rich and diverse food it provides. It introduces us to native plants and how to best prepare and cook them through a variety of recipes, savory and sweet.
While many countries have embraced their native and local plants as essential sources of nourishment, the U.S. has often lagged behind. Turtle Island opens the door to rediscovering the diversity and richness of native food and recognizing the important role Indigenous knowledge plays in preserving it.

The author of this book, Sean Sherman, has forged new paths with indigenous foodways, seeking to bring new life to ingredients used by Native Americans before colonization. These non-colonized ingredients are at the core of the menu for his Owamni Restaurant in Minneapolis, which is where I first learned of his work when writing about Native American restaurants across the U.S. I bought his first cookbook, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, which features modern recipes with non-colonized ingredients. So, you won’t find foods like fry bread here, which represents what natives made with the subsistence ingredients thrust upon them by the U.S. government.

However, Turtle Island could very well be Sherman’s magnum opus. Turtle Island is the name some natives give the world or the northern Americas in their creation myths. Here, Sherman has used the image of a turtle to lay over a map of North America (Turtle Island), dividing it into various regions based on the ingredients available there. Each section of the book corresponds to one of these regions. Not only does he discuss the foods native to each area, but he discusses the history of the people there, including their travails related to colonization. Then, he finishes off with traditional and modern recipes for the area, using non-colonized ingredients.

This book opened my eyes so much concerning the history of colonization. The way it’s portrayed in history, television shows, and literature that depicts the period tend to skew in favor of the colonists. When you look at it from the point of view of people who are being pushed away from the sources of their livelihoods, it looks a lot different than the way it’s often portrayed. Plus, there are pieces of the puzzle that I never saw before. For example, the introduction of horses allowed territorial expansion for indigenous groups but also more competition and raids. I also didn’t realize that the U.S. government started killing off bison to try to solve the “Indian Problem in the West,” encouraging mass slaughter. A group of 16 hunters killed off 2,800 bison in just a few months.

I feel like this is one of the most important books that you’ll ever read. Even if you don’t plan make a single recipe from the book, the history lessons alone are invaluable.

This is not just a cookbook. Turtle Island is an expertly researched, curated and explained history of a landscape told through food. The food and recipes explain infrastructures and civilisations ravaged by colonisation.

It's so well written, the prose flows beautifully and is so engaging.

Sherman had made brave choices in the recipes shared including for seal oil and recipes using seal meat. Whether or not you agree with this is irrelevant, it's a fact that seal, for example, was a vital source of food for many indigenous cultures and therefore to leave it out is to do a disservice to the mission of Turtle Island.

I have nothing but awe and admiration for the scale of this book. Sublime.

This cookbook feels so different from the usual ones I come across. Instead of dividing recipes into appetizers, sweets, savories,etc, it is arranged by regions and communities, which makes it so much more meaningful.
The book begins with detailed instructions on the basics of the cuisine, and each section opens with background information about the land and the people, providing a deeper context for the food.
The recipes themselves are fascinating and filled with flavors I haven’t heard before. Some ingredients are not easy to find but are part of the culture and history of the Indigenous groups the book represents.
The photos are beautiful, and the introductions to each chapter offer valuable history and insight into how the land shaped the food. From the fish-heavy dishes of one region to venison in another, the variety is striking, and the creativity with natural ingredients is inspiring.
Reading this book was an eye-opener, especially since I have little knowledge of North America. It is not just a cookbook but also a story of communities, families, and traditions told through food. The author’s love for his land and people shines through every page. Though I am a vegetarian and won’t be cooking the meat-based recipes, I truly enjoyed reading about the Indigenous produce, their culture, and the unique connection between food and land. The vegetarian recipes are so unique and sound very flavorful.
This is a cookbook to keep, read, and treasure, not just for recipes but also for the histories and experiences it preserves. It fills a gap in modern cookbooks and deserves a place in every home library.

This is such a unique cookbook from the ones that I see daily. I love that it is divided into different regions and groups of people instead of by food type (i.e. sweets, savories, appetizers, etc.). I also really liked that there is a lot of instruction in the beginning on the very basics of the cuisine. Also, each section begins with some information about the land that the recipes encompass, which provides insight into the recipes themselves.

There is only one small issue with traits I look for in all cookbooks: the ingredients are not easily obtained. However, I am willing to acknowledge that this is a special circumstance. While it might not be easy to obtain bison or moose to cook with, it is part of the culture and the history of these groups of Indigenous peoples.

Overall, an excellent book that fills a hole that was severely lacking in modern cookbooks. It also provides an education into the various cultures and groups found around North America.

A fascinating Native American cookbook to be read for its histories, experiences and feelings just as much as its recipes.
I've never been to America, so I have very little knowledge about the continent, and this was such a beautiful eye-opener. As you read you can only feel the love of the author and chef for his land, his family, his community and food. There is so much knowledge in those pages and so many intriguing recipes with flavours I do not know. I'm impatient to try my hand at them.
This is a beautiful object that I hope many will read and enjoy holding in their library and using. I can't say how much I've enjoyed reading it and I will definitely be purchasing it for gifts.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. I enjoyed reading about the various tribes and regional history, such as, Southeastern Woodlands,Pacific Coast, Canada and Mexico. The pictures were gorgeous and the recipes were local to those regions. I do like that there are substitutions for recipes as well. If the foods aren’t local to your area, items will have to be ordered online.

Thank you Netgalley, Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press, and Sean Sherman for sending me this advanced review copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is an amazing cookbook filled to the brim with recipes from Indigenous communities. The photos were beautiful, and showed off each dish well. There were fantastic introductions to each chapter that give us the basic history of the different areas and inhabitants. I loved how each different each area's cooking was so unique from the rest based on what was easiest to find locally. Some areas were more fish heavy, while others featured venison. The vegetation also varies quite a bit too.

I was really impressed by all the ways you can combine and use so many ingredients found in nature. I learned so much that will influence my own cooking from now on. I live in an area of rural northern Oklahoma with a high population of Indigenous people, and there were a few recipes I was already familiar with. All the recipes look very authentic.

I'm looking forward to slowly cooking my way through the recipes. The instructions were clear, and easy to follow. I think an advanced beginner could easily handle cooking from this book. Depending on where you live, some ingredients could be harder to source. I really loved the short explanations before each recipe. Those were so helpful, and often included cooking tips, serving ideas, and ingredient substitutions.

Overall this was a fantastic book, and I learned so much about other Indigenous communities I wasn't familiar with. This would be a fantastic addition to any bookshelf.

Beautifully written with a strong voice who advocates for Indigenous people and returning to a way of thinking about food and cooking that as he says happened before colonization. The recipes are accessible to most home cooks whether they are Indigenous or not. Highly recommend for anyone who loves food and history.

I really enjoyed this cookbook! Not only were there some recipes that I'd like to try, the information within this book was very interesting! I loved the food photography, too. Overall, this was a really great cookbook.

Thank you NetGally and Clarkson Potter for this ARC, book is out November 11th 2025

I was so excited to get this book. I saw a piece about Sean and Indigenous cooking and when I saw this ARC I was really hoping I got it. This is going to be my go to house warming or birthday gift to people! I learned so much, I'm Métis so my family is from out East but I live on the West Coast so I was super excited to get recipes from both places but I was really pleasantly surprised on how much Turtle Island (North America) is covered. From all the way out East to Central Plains down to Central and coastal Mexico all the way back up the coast and then even into the Artic. Each area is prefaced by a little history of the area and the people and then recipes to correspond to that area. I think this should be a instant buy for every house hold. So many cookbooks are just like French or Italian or something really basic that can be covered in a lot of places but having a book like this is really imported to help people connect to the land they are on as well as learn about the food that comes from that land as well

When I first encountered Sean Sherman's previous publication, "The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen," in my library, I ended up reading it less like a cookbook and more like an educational introduction into the realm of indigenous cooking. Or to be more specific an introduction specifically through the lens of the Dakota-Minnesota region, and loved every page of it. So of course "Turtle Island" immediately proved to be a delight for me from the very get-go. This too can be thoroughly enjoyed just the same, because alongside the wide array of recipes, it's packed with history and bountiful information regarding the indigenous culinary cultures of several regions of Turtle Island / North America. Basically, it felt like a whole mini-education served up alongside tasty dishes and gorgeous photos. Just a a pure gem of an experience!

I got this as an arc on Netgalley and it will come out in November. This was so educative and just really well put together. I really learned a lot about pre colonial indigenous cooking but also about the land and its history. Going region by region made things clear and more easily accessible.

A beautiful and thoughtfully curated collection of recipes and Indigenous knowledge. A modern adaptation of traditional ingredients and preparation methods of some of the Indigenous peoples of Canada, the US and Mexico.

The recipes are so intriguing, the photographs are stunning, and the thought and passion behind each recipe is evident.

Each recipe is a piece of a story that connects people across North America. People connecting through food is such an incredible way to share past, present and future, to learn to understand others, and in turn, understand yourself.

Nourish your body and your mind with this incredible work of art.

I recieved a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for review

Wow, this cookbook is way more than a cookbook. Sean Sherman has separated the book into various regions of Turtle Island and provided an introduction to his travels or history with the region, a more high level history as well as history about the food and the land. He also provides important context and even social justice context to various ingredients and recipes. Each recipe also has a short introduction about it. This book is absolutely incredible and I will definitely be purchasing copies for myself and for friends.

So many cookbooks these days cover authentic Italian food, authentic French food, authentic Japanese food, etc.... But usually when we see "authentic" American food cookbooks they are either hamburger-type fare or some hybrid cuisine influenced by European or even Asian cooking and ingredients. Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America presents the flavors native to Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. The recipes come from a chef who was raised in the Lakota tribe in South Dakota and honed his trade in restaurants in Minneapolis starting in his teens. He applies updated cooking techniques to the indigenous proteins, grains, vegetables, and fruit to give us authentic North American food. The chef introduces himself and guides us through the indigenous pantry to give readers a foundation before sharing his recipes. The recipes are organized regionally into chapters Great Plains: The Wild Foods of the Prairie, Great Lakes: Where Food Grows on Water, Eastern Woodlands: The People of First Light, Southeastern Woodlands and the Bayou, Indian Territory: Oklahoma, Desert Lands: Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico, Mesoamerican Highland and Pacific Coast: Central Mexico, Mesoamerican Rainforest and Gulf Coast: Southern Mexico, Pacific Coast: California and Baja California, Cold Desert: Great Basin and Columbia Plateau, Northwest Coast: Where the Verdant Forest Meets the Sea, Northern Forests: Alaska and Canadian Subarctic, Ice and Tundra: Northern Alaska and the Canadian Arctic. Each chapter begins with an introduction to that region followed by a thoughtful selection many of which are accompanied by lovely photos. Sourcing information for ingredients that you may not find in your local supermarkets is provided and in some cased, more conventionally available substitutes are noted. This book was quite educational to read and I'm excited to try several of the recipes.
I received access to this eARC thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.