This local Diné food blogger is sharing old, new recipes with ‘The Modern Navajo Kitchen’

Native recipes have been passed down by word of mouth for generations. But what happens when the oral tradition stops? One local author is trying to keep that flavorful heritage alive with a new cookbook titled, “The Modern Navajo Kitchen.”

“Navajo people want to know how to make these recipes,” said Alana Yazzie, “and a lot of times they don’t have the teachers to show them how to do it.”

Yazzie is a Diné food and lifestyle blogger, but better known on social media as TheFancyNavajo. Now, she’s a Queen Creek-based cookbook author of 60 traditional and modern recipes; her favorite dish is the red chili braised mutton stew.

Lots of traditions are passed onto generations orally.

“And when it comes to cooking, it’s by memory,” Yazzie explained, “My mom, my grandma, they would use handfuls of flour, handfuls of corn meal. They never used any measurements. It took me a while to process that, like, ‘Okay, how much is this? How much is that?’ Because, you know, hand sizes are different for everybody.”

She called this “the magic of our matriarchs,” noting how Diné families trace kinship through their mothers. They’re the ones tasked with using stirring sticks.

“These are, like, protection tools,” Yazzie said, stirring a blue corn-filled bowl. “They’re things that ward off hunger for Navajo families, so protection tools of Navajo women, and I explain that in my book as well.”

Gabriel Pietrorazio/KJZZ