Just when it seemed impossible for the saga surrounding Elizabeth Warren’s false claims of Cherokee heritage to become any more absurd, both Breitbart News and the Boston Herald reveal that Ms. Warren contributed several recipes to the now-infamous 1984 Pow Wow Chow Cookbook.
This is the same cookbook edited by Janyne “Candy” Carnes Rowsey, Ms. Warren’s first cousin, whose involvement in the Five Civilized Tribes Museum of Muskogee, Oklahoma was offered by the Warren Campaign to the Herald on April 30 as evidence of Ms. Warren’s Native American ancestry.
Ms. Warren’s recipes, which were likely included in the first edition published in 1984, can be seen in the third edition, now available for purchase at Amazon. All of Ms. Warren’s recipes were submitted with the attribution “Elizabeth Warren – Cherokee ,” and included such offerings as:
Mexican Oatmeal Soup
Cold Omelets with Crab Meat
Crab with Tomato Mayonnaise Dressing
Ms. Warren was not the only member of her family to contribute to the Pow Wow Chow cookbook. Her husband, Bruce Mann, who has to our knowledge never claimed Native American ancestry, contributed two recipes, one for Banana Nut Bread , and another for Oriental Beef Stir-Fry. Mr. Mann’s recipe included no specific connection between either oriental beef or stir-fry to traditional Cherokee cuisine.
Ms. Warren’s mother, Pauline Herring, contributed the recipe for Burnt Sugar Cake, and her children, Alex Mann and Amelia Mann, contributed the recipe for Grandmother’s Peach Cobbler.
Though Ms. Warren’s cousin is listed as the editor of the first edition of Pow Wow Chow cookbooks on Google Books, the third edition makes no mention of her editing contributions, though she was a prolific contributor of recipes to it.
Mrs. Rowsey was particularly fond of recipes for asparagus, a vegetable that is not indigenous to the traditional Cherokee lands in the Southeastern United States or Oklahoma, growing primarily in California and Michigan. Her asparagus recipes included Asparagus Scrambled Eggs with Croutons, Asparagus Vinaigrette, Aspargus with Hollandaise, and Fresh Asparagus Mimosa.
The Pow Wow Chow cookbook languished at an Amazon sales ranking of 1.2 million when the connection to Ms. Warren was first revealed by Breitbart News, but as of 12:05 am edt this morning had moved up to number 91,205. Comments at the site suggest that purchasers may be interested primarily in the novelty value of the cookbook arising from the political controversies surrounding Ms. Warren’s false claims of Native American ancestry.
Here’s a sampling of the reviews found there:
“I’m confused,” wrote one reviewer, “each recipe calls for 0/32 measurements of ingredients — that doesn’t add up to anything. “
“I’ve received nothing but rave reviews from my colleagues after whipping up treats from this cookbook in the faculty lounge kitchen,” said another.
“I made this purchase hoping I would be invited to Indian lunches but I haven’t got past the hot water part,” said a third.
With today’s revelation that Ms. Warren herself contributed recipes to the Pow Wow Chow cookbook, sales and reviews are expected to heat up in the near future.
Michael Patrick Leahy is a Breitbart News contributor, Editor of Broadside Books’ Voices of the Tea Party e-book series, and author of Covenant of Liberty: The Ideological Origins of the Tea Party Movement.