TEASER
Why is wild rice only found in the northern reaches of Minnesota and Wisconsin? What is it about Maine’s landscape that makes it so great for low-bush blueberries? What do Olympia oysters tell us about the relative health of Washington’s estuaries? Why do Alaskans regularly enjoy moose, reindeer, and caribou, while people in the lower-48 insist on beef, pork, and chicken? Why aren’t pawpaws, northern pecans, butternuts, shellbark hickories, prairie potatoes, and American persimmons staples in the Heartland today, even though they fed the Mississippian Indians for millennia? 
 is a paean to place and the native foods that uniquely American landscapes have birthed. But our indigenous and delectable fowl, mammals, fish, nuts, seeds, fruits, leafy greens, and tubers may provide more than gustatory delight. These once common but now forgotten foods may be the key to improved health, both for us and the environment.