Our Knives Will Save Us

Dispatches from a White Mountain Apache Chef

De: Nephi Craig

Narrado por: Nephi Craig

From Indigenous chef Nephi Craig, a searing personal and cultural reckoning that demonstrates the power of food to heal intergenerational wounds

At just eighteen years old, Nephi Craig was facing a felony charge that could have put him in prison for years. Having struggled with substance abuse throughout his teens, his life had come to a dizzying halt. So when a judge ordered three years of probation instead—on the condition he attend work or school—Craig took it as an opportunity for a new lease on life. Not long after, he enrolled in a culinary arts program a few hours from Whiteriver, Arizona, where he had grown up on the White Mountain Apache Tribe Reservation. Expecting little more than a means to an end, Craig quickly discovered a talent and passion for cooking. He also experienced a profound dissonance as the only Indigenous person in the kitchen, preparing European recipes that—disguised by their French and Italian names—relied on ingredients native to the Americas.

Craig untangled the buried histories of Indigenous cultivars such as tomato, cacao, and amaranth, each one a portal into possibility as well as a marker of the violent legacy of colonization. As he did so, he found new ways to honor his Apache and Navajo roots and build Indigenous food sovereignty. His journey led him around the world, from top fine-dining restaurants in the United States to high-profile banquets in Brazil, England, Germany, and Japan. All the while, Craig wrestled with addiction, entering one treatment center after another in the hopes that he could get—and remain—sober.

In the heat, frenzy, and collaborative energy of restaurant kitchens, Craig found a lifeline. But when he was faced with the difficult decision of choosing between a career-defining executive chef job and an opportunity to serve his community back on the Rez, he realized his true vocation. Interweaving personal reflection with illuminating cultural insight, Our Knives Will Save Us offers a vision of hope: one where food is decolonized and cooking is a pathway to healing for all of us.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Chef Nephi Craig has been speaking truth about Indigenous food, identity, and healing long before the wider world caught up. Hearing him years ago helped focus my own journey toward what became my work with The Sioux Chef, NATIFS, and Owamni. His memoir Our Knives Will Save Us is exactly the book the Indigenous food movement has needed: raw, rooted, and told with the quiet compassion of someone who has walked the path and shown us all that the real work begins with healing ourselves before we can heal others." —Sean Sherman, national bestselling author of Turtle Island, Oglala Lakota, and founder of NATIFS and The Sioux Chef

"Our Knives Will Save Us is a revelation—a profound exploration of how food can nourish not only our bodies but also our souls. Nephi's expertise in addiction recovery and his deep understanding of Indigenous food practices converge to offer a groundbreaking approach to using food as a tool for recovery and healing. Our Knives Will Save Us illuminates the deep connections between nourishment, self-discovery, and well-being, providing invaluable insights into the potential of food to restore and revitalize every aspect of our lives." —Daphne Miller, MD, New York Times bestselling author of Farmacology and The Jungle Effect, physician and professor of family medicine at the University of California, San Francisco

"Our Knives Will Save Us is a powerful and true full circle story of a chef, educator, and friend. Through pain, lost culture, reconnection, and passion Nephi Craig walks you through his often treacherous path, which evolved from a culinary pursuit to a life of incredible purpose and mentorship." —Kyle Connaughton, chef-owner of SingleThread farm, restaurant, and inn

“Nephi Craig’s memoir is exceptional: beautifully crafted, compelling, and courageous. It is a powerful testament to how saving a food culture can, in turn, save a life." —Michael Shaikh, human rights activist and author of The Last Sweet Bite

“A visionary blend of Indigenous food, culture, and decolonization, Our Knives Will Save Us traces Craig’s deeply personal journey while offering a grounded history of the White Mountain Apache and Indigenous Peoples on Turtle Island. Guided by mentors, parents, elders, and chefs, Craig confronts settler culinary colonialism and the erasure of Native food knowledge. His return to Indigenous traditions is inspirational and profound. This is one of the most important and powerful books about recovery, decolonization, and resurgence that I have read.” —Dr. Michael Yellow Bird, professor and former dean of social work at the University of Manitoba, Arikara, co-author of Sahnish (Arikara) Ethnobotany and Decolonizing Pathways Towards Integrative Healing in Social Work, and the creator of neurodecolonization theory